US push to hunt pirates

2008-12-11 08:54

New York - The United States sought international authorisation on Wednesday to hunt Somali pirates on land with the cooperation of Somalia's weak UN-backed government in one of the Bush administration's last major foreign policy initiatives.

The US circulated a draft United Nations Security Council resolution proposing that all nations and regional groups cooperating with Somalia's government in the fight against piracy and armed robbery "may take all necessary measures ashore in Somalia," including its airspace.

If the US military gets involved, it would mark a dramatic turnabout from the US experience in Somalia in 1992-1993 that culminated in a deadly military clash in Mogadishu followed by a humiliating withdrawal of American forces.

Piracy off Somalia has intensified in recent months, with more attacks against a wider range of targets. There was an unsuccessful assault on a cruise ship in the Gulf of Aden, which links the Mediterranean Sea, the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. In September, pirates seized a Ukrainian freighter loaded with 33 battle tanks and on November 15 they seized a Saudi oil tanker carrying $100m worth of crude.

The US resolution is to be presented at a session on Somalia on Tuesday with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Lack of capacity

It proposes that for a year, nations "may take all necessary measures ashore in Somalia, including in its airspace, to interdict those who are using Somali territory to plan, facilitate or undertake acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea and to otherwise prevent those activities".

The draft also says Somalia's government - whose president wrote to the UN twice this month already seeking help - suffers from a "lack of capacity, domestic legislation, and clarity about how to dispose of pirates after their capture".

The resolution is aimed at taking measures to stabilise the long-violent and lawless Somalia, a senior US official said on Wednesday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak about it on the record. Though a number of countries have sent naval forces and taken other steps to stop the piracy, the efforts have been considered "very uncoordinated" so far, a second US official also said privately.

Earlier this month, the Security Council extended authorization for another year for countries to enter Somalia's territorial waters, with advance notice, and to use "all necessary means" to stop acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea.

Burns reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Pauline Jelinek also contributed from Washington.

- AP