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New York, January 30, 2010 – A top United Nations official has called a
comprehensive, cohesive and broad-based strategy to fight piracy off the
coast of Somalia, saying that the continued spread of the scourge points
to the limits of a solely sea-based approach.
In recent years, pirates operating from Somalia have been hijacking
ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean and holding their crews
and cargo for ransom. Bulgarians have been among those seized in recent
incidents.
Charles Petrie, the UN's Deputy Special Representative for Somalia, told
a January 28 2010 meeting of the Contact Group on piracy off the coast
of Somalia that improved co-ordination between the international
maritime community and military forces in the region, among other
elements, has contributed to a decline in the rate of successful pirate
attacks and raised the cost of pirate operations.
Piracy and the huge money it generates may pose a security threat not
only to Somalia and the region, but to the whole world
"And yet piracy continues to expand further out to sea, at times more
than 1000 nautical miles from the coast of Somalia," he told the meeting
at UN Headquarters, according to a report by the UN News Service.
Petrie said that the rising costs of these attacks are met by ever more
innovative financing mechanisms, including the establishment of stock
exchanges which allow local investors to earn returns on their
"investment" in piracy operations.
"These developments highlight the limits of an exclusively sea-based
approach and emphasize the need for the international community to
continue to deal with the issue of piracy in a comprehensive, cohesive
and broad-based approach.
"The UN remains committed to addressing the problem of piracy and armed
robbery off the coast of Somalia holistically, in close co-ordination
with the international community," he said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a report issued in November 2009,
called for an integrated approach that would strengthen the capacities
of the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the African
Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) on land.
The approach should include further development of law and security
institutions to complement the ongoing peace process in the strife-torn
nation, including for the investigation and prosecution of those
suspected of acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea.
Outlining some of the UN’s initiatives, Petrie said that the UN Office
on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) had begun work in the Horn of Africa nation
to develop a prison system to enable the transfer of Somali pirates
convicted in regional States to Somalia to serve their prison terms.
In addition, the UN's Office of Legal Affairs (OLA) has recently offered
to provide technical assistance to Somalia in the review of its maritime
zones legislation, to place it in a better position to address the
conditions that nurture and favor piracy.
Meanwhile, the independent UN expert on the situation of human rights in
Somalia issued a strong warning today on the security, human rights and
humanitarian situation in the country, including Somaliland and
Puntland.
Shamsul Bari, in a media statement issued following his just-concluded
visits to Kenya and Somalia, described as "extremely serious" the
situation in southern and central Somalia, where civilians continue to
bear the brunt of the fighting between the TFG and Islamist armed
groups.
In particular, he said that piracy, human trafficking and mixed
migrations remain the most serious challenges to the Puntland
Government.
"Piracy and the huge money it generates may pose a security threat not
only to Somalia and the region, but to the whole world," Bari said,
warning that "the recent killings targeting senior politicians in
Puntland raise legitimate security concerns regarding the spread and the
attempt of terrorist groups to destabilize Puntland and Somaliland."
Bari was unable to visit the capital, Mogadishu, and southern and
central Somalia due to security constraints.
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) estimates that more than 117 000 residents
of Mogadishu have been displaced in the past month because of heavy
exchanges of fire between government troops and Islamist insurgents. It
says that the latest round of fighting has caused 200 deaths among
civilians and wounded 700 others.
In a related development, the UN Security Council on January 28
authorized the AU to maintain AMISOM until January 31 2011.
The 15-member body also requested Ban to continue to provide a
logistical support package for AMISOM, and to continue providing
technical and expert advice to the AU in planning and deploying the
mission.
Source: Reuters/Sofia Echo Media, Jan 29, 2010
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