NATO To Launch Long-term Piracy Mission In Gulf Of Aden - US

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BRUSSELS (AFP)--North Atlantic Treaty Organization nations will meet this week to drum up resources for a new and long-term anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden, set to be launched next month, a senior U.S. official said Monday.
NATO ambassadors have agreed an "initiating directive for a long-term operation called Ocean Shield to begin as of July 1," the official told reporters in Brussels.
"There will be a sourcing conference to find out who is going to be able to contribute what to Ocean Shield this Wednesday," he said.
Warships from NATO's Standing Naval Maritime Group One have been temporarily conducting anti-piracy work and escorting merchant ships, including some carrying food aid for Somalia, since March and that operation ends this month.
"It is important for NATO to continue its efforts on counter-piracy," the U.S. official said.
"We will make a contribution to this operation, logistics, communications and intelligence, as well as actual ships and we would hope, and expect our allies to do the same," he added.
Ecoterra International, a green non-governmental organisation monitoring illegal marine activities in the region, says Somali pirates have carried out 126 attacks so far this year, including 44 successful sea-jackings.
They had captured 49 ships in total last year.
At last count 14 ships were still being held by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, together with more than 200 seamen, almost a quarter of them Filipinos.
The world's naval powers have deployed dozens of warships to the region over the past year, in a declared attempt to curb attacks by pirates threatening one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes.
Observers say piracy can only be eradicated with measures to end the chaos inside Somalia, where close to two decades of war and lawlessness have made piracy one of the few viable businesses.