Somalia's Puntland region says committed to fighting piracy

www.chinaview.cn 2009-11-11 15:44:44 Print

MOGADISHU, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- Authorities in the northeastern semi-autonomous Somali region of Puntland have vowed to step up their effort to fight rampant piracy off the coast.

The region is considered hotbed for the menace and local authorities have previously come under repeated criticism that they were not doing enough to fight the illicit activities off the Somali coast.

The chief of police in the Bari region in Puntland, Osman Hassan Owkeh, said the local security forces were committed to stepping up their efforts and would do their bit in fighting piracy.

The official said the forces have captured "many" pirates and their equipment, adding the convicted pirates are servicing prison sentences in the region where locates the biggest pirate base, the town of Eyl.

Authorities have presented to the media confiscated equipment used by Somali pirates to carry out their activities, including small weapons, ladders, engines for skiffs and jerry cans for fuels. The media were also shown pirates in prisons in Bossaso, commercial capital of the autonomous state.

"All these (confiscated equipment and imprisoned pirates) should show the world that we are committed in fighting the piracy which is hurting Somalia more than any other country in the world," Owkeh said.

He called on the international community to do more to support what he called "local initiatives and efforts" in global fight against piracy off Somalia and the Gulf of Aden.

Local forces, who are mostly ill-equipped and underpaid, have managed to prevent a number of piracy incidents and captured pirates along with their equipment. Authorities in the region have also been handed over pirates by international naval forces patrolling the pirate infested Somalia coast.

Local courts have carried out trials of captured pirates and have given jail terms, but some have reportedly escaped from prison or were released by bribed guards.

Somali pirates, who are better trained and well equipped than local forces, have recently intensified their activities along the India Ocean and extended their reach far into the high seas as off the Indian sub-continent, the longest distance so far.

Several warships from a number of countries, including China, patrol the Somali coast and the Gulf of Aden.

Pirate gangs are holding several ships with hundreds of crew onboard for whom they demand ransom for their release.

Since the start of the restless situation in Somalia in 1991, the Horn of Africa country's coastal areas and the Gulf of Aden have been frequently infested by pirates.