Anti-Piracy Legislation shall be in place by May 18
Somalia will soon have a legislative framework in place that would help tackle the menace caused by pirates from that country, its ambassador said here today.
“An Anti-Piracy Legislation shall be in place by May 18, for an effective maritime security and counter piracy,” Ambassador of Somalia Ebyan Mahamed Salah told newsmen on the sidelines of ‘Global Maritime Security and Anti-Piracy Conference-2011’ held here today.
Last week, Somalia successfully adopted National Security and Stabilisation Plan (2011-2014). It will be implemented from January 2012 to prevent piracy, Salah said.
The attacks by Somalian pirates over the years have turned into a major issue with shipping companies being forced to fork out huge amount to secure the release of their crew and ships.
According to estimates, the average ransom asked by the pirates went up from USD 150,000 in 2005 to USD 3.4 million in 2009. There were in all 44 pirate attacks in 2010, leading to payout of USD 238 million and average ransom being USD 5.4 million.
The regions of Somalia/Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Guinea, Southeast Asia, South and Central America and Caribbean have been found to be vulnerable to attacks by Somalian pirates.
Salah said that the government would appoint a counter piracy coordinator under a designated minister by December and also establish Somali Maritime Police and Coast Guard.
The fund flows to Somalia, out of ransom charged from the seafarers, might have some correlation with funding to terror outfits like Al-shabab, an off-shoot of Al-Qaeda, but there has been no evidence yet.
“Somalia has problem of sound financial institutions. So all money go there through hawala system. We are going to soon have a meeting in Dubai to tackle hawala,” Salah said.
“We don’t have evidence that funds go to Al-shabab, thank god, otherwise it would have been a bigger issue,” she said.
The Somalian government will also evolve a framework to monitor the fund flows into the country.
“We are also doing this, and the first meeting to this effect shall be held in Dubai. The Somalian government in coordination with the Anti-Piracy Task Force will discuss how to put a framework to track hawala inflows and monitor it,” she said in response to a query on what measures the government was taking to control the illegal fund flows.
The conference is being organised by Gujarat National Law University.
Source: Neptune Martime Security
