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ITF backs pledge to deal with piracy
10 November 2005
The ITF has praised the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO’s) promise to involve the United Nations Security Council in efforts to see off piracy in seas close to Somalia. This in response to a recent attack on a cruise ship off the coast of the country.
The ITF had urged IMO Secretary General Efthimios Mitropoulos to involve the Security Council to secure naval intervention; Mitropoulos stated that the IMO already planned to do so.
On 5 November, the Bahamas-registered Seabourn Spirit repelled an attack by gunmen 100 miles off the Somali coast. Last month a vessel carrying food aid was hijacked and in June a ship carrying relief for tsunami victims was attacked.
John Bainbridge of the ITF commented: “This latest attack, coming hard on the heels of the shameful theft of two relief vessels, proves that the situation is almost beyond control. Even 100 miles offshore ships are unsafe. We must bite the bullet and admit that as a unified nation, Somalia has ceased to exist. That may well mean that other countries will have to enter its waters and take over the duties that it can no longer carry out.”
He concluded: “The Security Council will have to ask how many more attacks there need to be before real action is taken.”
BIMCO, the International Chamber of Shipping, the International Shipping Federation, Intercargo and Intertanko have also raised concerns about the increasing incidence of violence against ships in the area.
The International Maritime Bureau has revealed that 28 incidents involving ships navigating off the Somali coast have been reported since 15 March 2005. Somalia is blighted by political instability; a day after the cruise ship attack, an assassination attempt was made on the life of Prime Minister, Ali Mohammed Gedi, who is part of Somalia’s transitional federal government.
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