eu sending warships to fight pirates

UE sending warships plus spotter planes.

EU Sending Warships to Fight Pirates Off Somali Coast (Update1)

By Gregory Viscusi and James G. Neuger

Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) -- France, Germany and six other European Union governments say they will deploy additional warships off the coast of Somalia to fight piracy as soon as next month.

Germany will send a frigate, German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said. France has already dispatched a ship and Spain has sent an observation plane. The goal is to have an EU fleet of three warships, a supply ship and three naval surveillance planes, Jung said.

``We have to take effective action against pirates,'' Jung told reporters today at an EU meeting in Deauville, France. ``We have to first push back the pirates, restore security on the high seas and make free maritime trade possible again.''

Attacks by pirates have surged this year off Somalia, and are running at close to one a day. Commercial shippers have warned they may start routing cargo around Africa, passing the added fuel and time costs on to clients. They've asked for help from Western navies, noting that joint patrols by Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore have almost eradicated piracy in the Straits of Malacca, the world's previous piracy hotspot.

The EU force, the bloc's first naval crisis-management mission, would go into action after Nov. 10, when EU defense ministers meet again in Brussels, French Defense Minister Herve Morin said in a press conference.

Military Capabilities

France holds the rotating presidency of the EU and French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for greater international effort to fight piracy.

EU efforts off Somalia come as the group is trying to build up military capabilities after more than a decade of underinvestment following the collapse of Soviet communism.

Defense ministers today sought to address some of those shortfalls, by agreeing to create a fund to upgrade Europe's combat helicopters and by announcing that 10 countries will pool resources to operate a fleet of transport planes being built by European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co., the French- and German-controlled maker of Airbus jets.

EU countries including France, Britain, and Denmark, already have warships in the Indian Ocean as part of Task Force 150, an anti-terrorist mission with the U.S, Canada and Pakistan. In the past 10 years off the coast of Yemen, skiff- borne suicide bombers have attacked a U.S. warship, the USS Cole, and a French oil tanker.

200 Hostages

Around 60 boats have been attacked by pirates this year in waters off Somalia, the International Maritime Bureau says, and at least 200 sailors are being held hostage.

Warships from Task Force 150 intervene to prevent pirate attacks on commercial vessels, though piracy isn't the fleet's main mandate.

``If they stumble upon something, they will chase them away, but won't engage in hot pursuit,'' said Sam Dawson, press officer for the London-based International Transport Workers Federation, which along with five shipping associations signed a statement this week asking for more protection.

U.S. warships are also shadowing a Ukrainian ship that was hijacked last week with a cargo of T-72 battle tanks, and a Russian warship is en route to the area.

Sugale Ali Omar, a spokesman for the pirates onboard the ship, said ransom negotiations continue with its Ukrainian owners. In earlier interviews, Omar said the pirates were asking for $20 million.

`Combat the Pirates'

Somali president Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed today asked for foreign assistance.

``I call on the international community to combat the pirates quickly,'' he said at a press conference in Mogadishu.

The EU naval anti-piracy force would be separate from Task Force 150, though the two fleets would coordinate actions, Morin said. The make-up of the force and its rules of engagement will be worked out in talks between now and Nov. 10, he said.

Of the 27 EU countries, France, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Cyprus, Belgium and Sweden have said they will contribute, according to Morin. Britain will consider joining, though it says its naval forces are already stretched, Morin said. Morin said he's proposed that the fleet's operational headquarters be in Britain.

Last month, the EU set up an office in Brussels to coordinate the anti-piracy efforts of its naval forces in the area.

Morin said the forward headquarters for the fleet hasn't been decided yet. France and Spain use a French military base in Djibouti for their anti-piracy efforts. The U.S.'s Fifth Fleet, the backbone of Task Force 150, is based in Bahrain.

Rules of Engagement

Each country has its own set of rules. French naval commanders have captured 12 Somali pirates in two operations since April and sent them to France to be prosecuted. The Danish navy has disarmed pirates, and later set them free on the Somali coast. The British navy has rules of engagement that prevent them from arresting pirates.

German-owned ships suffered the most attacks last year, registering 43 of 263 global incidents, according to the IMB. Germany has the world's largest container fleet and the third- largest merchant fleet.

``We would welcome strongly a joint European initiative and hope it falls into place very soon,'' said Max Johns, a spokesman in Hamburg for the German ship-owners associations.

To contact the reporters on this story: Gregory Viscusi in Paris at [email protected]; James G. Neuger in Deauville, France at [email protected]

Last Updated: October 1, 2008 13:44 EDT