PAU, France (AFP) — The French navy began escorting ships carrying World Food Programme provisions to Somalia Friday, to protect them against attacks by pirates, French Defence Minister Herve Morin said.
President Nicolas Sarkozy promised in September to provide the escort service for two months.
"This decision has been put into operation today," Morin told reporters on a visit to the southwestern town of Pau.
He said there had been 22 attacks by pirates off the Somali coast since the beginning of the year, including two against WFP-chartered ships.
"We hope that after this gesture by France, other powers will follow suit," Morin said, adding that he had raised the issue with other European Union defence ministers.
The WFP made a new appeal last month for protection after pirates attacked one of its cargo ships off the Somali port of Brava. It had just dropped off more than 7,000 tonnes of food and was heading for Mombasa.
Somalia's transitional government has little control over the country, which has been wracked with violence since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991.
Impossible road conditions mean that 80 percent of UN aid for the Somali people is transported by sea -- representing an irresistable target to pirates, who sell off the looted aid and often demand ransoms to release the crew.
Source: AFP, November 17, 2007