Arab nations in talks on piracy

2008-11-20 12:33

Cairo - Arab Red Sea states were holding an emergency meeting in Cairo on Thursday to discuss the threat of piracy off Somalia, with Egypt saying all options were on the table to deal with the growing crisis.

Senior officials from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen met for the talks amid growing international frustration over a situation described by the International Maritime Bureau as "out of control".

Pirates at the weekend seized the Saudi-owned Sirius Star oil tanker, the largest ship yet taken and the attack furthest away from Somalia. The ship's owners are negotiating with the pirates.

With three more ships captured since the Sirius Star was taken, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hossam Zaki said Egypt would consider all possibilities in dealing with the crisis.

"The Egyptian national security establishment works intensively on all options, examines what measures could be taken in this regard, and decides whether a diplomatic and political solution will be preferred."

"All options are open," Egypt's official MENA news agency quoted him as saying.

Egypt relies heavily on revenue from traffic using the Suez Canal between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, and Zaki said that "some vessels are (now) taking alternative routes".

Suez is Egypt's third-largest source of revenue after tourism and remittances from expatriate workers, and currently about 7.5% of global trade passes through the canal.

"The phenomenon is threatening navigation in the Red Sea, causing some vessels to take other routes," Zaki said.

He said Thursday's meeting "aims to promote coordination among the Arab countries overlooking Red Sea to discuss this unusual situation".

Yemen, which is co-hosting the talks, last week complained that the heavy deployment of multinational naval forces in the Gulf of Aden to combat piracy could pose a threat to Arab security.

"The intensive multinational military presence in the southern outlet of the Red Sea is worrying," Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Kurbi said.

- AFP