In Summary
- President directs Foreign minister to convene summit.
- Piracy result of international community failure to deal with internal politics of Somalia.
President Kibaki is set to host an international conference in Nairobi to discuss the escalating incidences of piracy along the East African coastline.
Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang’ula has said that the president has instructed him to convene the meeting at the earliest opportunity.
“The President has directed me to organise an international conference where he will take the leading role on the issue of piracy along the Indian Ocean waters.”
He was speaking at Hotel Intercontinental, Nairobi where he hosted heads of foreign missions in the country for a consultative meeting.
Ambassadors from various countries including Britain and Germany attended the meeting. Also in attendance was Kenya’s Defence minister Yusuf Haji.
Mr Wetang’ula said that he will request the envoys to organise for representation from the highest level of their governments to attend the conference.
He noted that the piracy situation in the Indian Ocean was as a result of the international community’s “collective failure” to deal with the internal political issues facing Somalia.
“The plot has been thickening day by day and has now turned into a major international enterprise affecting all of us,” he said.
He added that the fact that the pirates were now hijacking ships from as long as 800 kilometres from the shore showed that the problem was bigger.
Lauding a decision by India three days ago to destroy one of its hijacked vessels, Mr Wetang’ula said that all countries must now prepare to act tough on the pirates.
He said that Kenya would sanction Somali leaders and their families noting that they would not be allowed to stay in the country unless they sorted Somalia’s internal problems.
“Sometimes we must take decisions that are harsh as for the sake of humanity they are justifiable. We must stop this menace and hard decisions have to be taken.”
He added that Kenya does not support countries that are paying ransom for the release of their vessels and cargo noting that this amounted to paying off criminals.
Late last month, President Kibaki called on Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) member states to work with the international community to draw up a joint anti-piracy framework.
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