Piracy: Foreign units may enter SA seas
2012-04-11 19:17
Cape Town - Foreign security services could be allowed into South Africa to protect merchant vessels against piracy, Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said on Wednesday.
"This has been raised with us by a number of European countries. We are grappling with this development," she said after opening the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium in Cape Town.
"On vessels where there has been armed security, there have not been any attempts to hijack the craft."
She said navy chiefs in the region would have to debate on the ethics, viability and desirability of having armed units in local waters to guard against piracy.
If agreed to, the country would be required to allow guards on land for their replenishment. She said this would require a "drastic re-structuring" of legislation.
Threat of piracy
Local vessels would continue to be monitored by the navy.
"There is no security [force] on any South African ships. We, the navy, protect these ships."
Sisulu declined to say which European countries had approached her, for "ethical" reasons.
The SA Navy warned last month that the threat of piracy was moving south towards South Africa.
A total of 1 016 people were taken hostage in the Indian Ocean around Africa in 2010. Comparatively, only 165 people were held hostage in other parts of the world in the same period.
The figures dropped in 2011, breaking a four-year high, with 802 crew members taken hostage worldwide.
The International Maritime Bureau's 2011 global piracy report credited the combined efforts by regional navies for the difference in figures.
According to its piracy reporting centre, the closest attack to South Africa this year was off Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, where 10 pirates attempted to board a chemical tanker.
Under "Operation Copper", Mozambique, Tanzania and South Africa have been working together to secure the Mozambique channel.
- SAPA
