Partners meet to draw up action plans on piracy
Delegates from eastern and southern African countries, along with their international partners in the fight against piracy, started talks yesterday aimed at drawing up an action plan.
Their two-day meeting is taking place at Le Méridien Barbarons Hotel and was opened by Minister for Home Affairs, Environment and Transport Joel Morgan, who also chairs the High Level Committee on Piracy.
It has been organised by the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (Comesa) and the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC).
“The high-level technical meeting will develop short, medium and long-term plans of action for the region using the policy background given by the May 21 ministerial meeting and the Seychelles International Symposium on Piracy,” said Mr Morgan.
He said the international symposium, held here last week, made specific proposals for action.
Mr Morgan told delegates that during the 13th Comesa summit President James Michel said there was a need to tackle piracy in Somalia “as it is becoming the biggest threat to regional trade, adding a new dimension to the vulnerability of coastal states in the region, and is a matter of great concern to the general population”.
Mr Morgan said concrete action is being taken to address the problem and he thanked Comesa and its partners for the move.
“The sudden upsurge of piracy in the Indian Ocean has added a new dimension to the vulnerability of the region,” he said.
“It is now also a threat to regional security and a matter of great concern to the general population. But we all know that the only true solution to the problem is peace, stability and development in Somalia. And we need to come together to find a solution because peace in Somalia will benefit the Comesa region.”
Mr Morgan went on: “The challenge to the region has been recognised by all major regional organisations including the African Union (AU), Comesa, the East African Community, the Intergovernmental Agency for Development (IGAD), the Ports Management Authority of Eastern and Southern Africa and the new Djibouti Code of Conduct under the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
“It is in the interest of the countries of the region, as well as of the international community, to develop a robust and coordinated response, and this is what we will try to address with this workshop.
“We already have concrete proposals to build capacity in the region, including the Djibouti training centre and the Yemen information centre. Trust funds have been set up under the IMO and by the United Nations. An International Contact Group on Piracy made up of 24 states, five international bodies including the European Union, and observers from shipping industries has been established.”
Mr Morgan said ministers from Djibouti, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles and South Africa, as well as high representatives of the EU and the AU, Comesa, IOC, Interpol and UN Office on Drugs and Crime and European Commission vice-president Baroness Catherine Ashton met here in May to discuss piracy.
“The meeting noted that piracy has become a menace on the high seas and that the region is particularly affected, that international trade is disrupted, security is threatened, the region's economy is suffering, and social development is endangered,” said Mr Morgan.
“Ministers concluded that piracy is today an international problem which requires a comprehensive multilateral solution. At their meeting, the partners agreed to further develop and enhance their domestic action plans to fight piracy with a view to formulating a more comprehensive, coherent and sustainable regional strategy to be agreed at a further ministerial level conference to be convened in the very near future.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Paul Adam also stressed the need for action, underlining how vulnerable to the effects of piracy Seychelles is, and he thanked the partners for the progress already made against piracy.
In a speech read for him, the secretary-general of Comesa Sindiso Ngwenya likened piracy to terrorism and commended Seychelles for its lead role in fighting the crime.
“We are proud of you, Seychelles,” he said.
A representative of the IGAD, Yufnalis Okubo, said so far only pirates on small boats on the high seas are being caught. The kingpins and financiers have escaped justice, and they should also be prosecuted.
Source: NATION 7-20-10