Pentagon: Force not the answer

2008-11-20 22:28

Washington - The Pentagon said on Wednesday a military approach was not the answer to a surge of piracy off the Horn of Africa and suggested that shipping companies do more on their own to protect their vessels.

"You could have all the navies in the world having all their ships out there, you know, it's not going to ever solve this problem," said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary.

"It requires a holistic approach from the international community at sea, ashore, with governance, with economic development," he told reporters.

Morrell said at least 18 ships are currently being held for ransom by Somali pirates, along with 330 mariners taken hostage.

This year there have been 95 attempted ship seizures by pirates in the Gulf of Aden, 39 of them successful, he said.

Not only has the incidence of piracy increased, but pirates are going farther out in the high seas.

A US-bound Saudi supertanker carrying two million barrels of crude oil worth $100m was captured on Sunday by pirates some 450 miles off the Kenyan coast.

"Trust me, this subject is being dealt with at the highest levels of this government," Morrell said. "It is a real concern. And we are constantly evaluating what the best approach is."

"I'm just trying to get you to think beyond the notion of, 'The answer is strictly kinetics. We've got to board more ships. We've got to fire on more pirates.'"

The White House said President George W Bush had been briefed about the seizure of the Saudi super-tanker.

"Ensuring the safety and well being of the crew is of paramount importance in preventing or dealing with issues of piracy," said spokeswoman Dana Perino.

"And the goal would be to try to help get this ship to safety, secure the crew, and then work with our international partners to try to alleviate the piracy problem, full stop," she told reporters.

Perino said Washington was "working with other members of the Security Council right now" to work out how "to more effectively fight against piracy".

"It's a very complicated issue. There's a lot of international laws that factor into these efforts," she said.

Morrell urged that the UN Security Council extend a resolution that authorizes anti-piracy activities.

But he said commercial shipping companies also should stick to safer sea lanes away from shore and invest in protective measures, including technical devices and armed guards.

"The shipping companies, also have an obligation to secure their ships to prevent incidents such that we've been seeing at alarming rates over the past several months," he said.

The State Department convened a high level group of officials to examine the issue, but spokesperson Sean McCormack called it "an international problem" that the United States was not going to solve alone.

- AFP