Tuesday, December 16, 2008
"Pirates cannot be keelhauled or forced to walk the plank, nor should they be dumped off the Somali coast. They need to be brought to justice," said Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the Vienna-based U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.
Costa urged law enforcement officers to deploy on warships as "ship riders" to seize pirates and try them in the arresting officer's home country.
A similar approach has helped prosecute drug traffickers in the Caribbean, he said.
Somali pirates have seized 40 vessels off Somalia's 3,000-kilometer (1,880-mile) coastline this year, and 14 remain held along with more than 250 crew members, according to maritime officials.
Costa said countries in the region — such as Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania and Yemen — could sign special agreements empowering police officers to arrest pirates in the name of the officer's country, then escort them there to be charged and tried.
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| Some of the eight suspected Somali pirates listen as a translator Mohammed Ali Mohammed translates the proceedings of the day at the Law Courts in Mombasa Kenya Thursday Dec. 11, 20008, during the hearing of their case where they are charged with hijacking a cargo ship along Somali waters. The hearing of the eight Somali suspects was adjourned until January 14th,15th and 16th after the state pleaded for more time to go through the suspects files.. (AP Photo) |
Kenya's military chief, Gen. Jeremiah Kianga, said Tuesday that his country will increase patrols along its coastline because piracy off neighboring Somalia has made business at Kenya's main port more expensive.
Kenya's air force and navy will patrol only Kenyan territory and not enter Somali air space or waters, Kianga said.
"Regional cooperation is essential," Costa said. "A few years ago, piracy was a threat to the Straits of Malacca. By working together, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand managed to cut the number of attacks by more than half since 2004."
Costa also urged authorities to crack down on the Somali pirates' coastal bases, support networks and financial transactions.
"Somali pirates are in it for the money, so we should try to capture their treasure," Costa said.
"Unlike buccaneers of old, Somali mafias are not burying their booty in the sand ... Pirates are increasingly working through intermediaries in financial centers. This is where we need to hit them."
The U.N.
agency also urged shipping and insurance companies not to pay ransom,
which Costa contends just encourages pirates to take hostages.
SOURCE: AP, Tuesday, December 16, 2008