Somalia/Piracy

Clinton unveils plan to fight piracy

Article published on the 2009-04-16 Latest update 2009-04-16 07:35 TU

French forces intercept 11 Somali pirates off on the coast of Kenya on 15 April 2009
(Photo: Reuters)

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says a number of measures must be used in the fight against Somali piracy, as 19 US crew members from the Maersk Alabama returned home on Thursday after their experience in the Gulf of Aden.

Clinton said that more needs to be done to prosecute pirates and freeze their assets.

“The critical mass of hijackings and kidnappings has risen dramatically, in part because the pirates got better vessels and could go further out to sea, and they began to use mother ships,” she said.

She announced that the US would dispatch a diplomat to the Somali donors conference in Brussels on 23 April, and would call for meetings of the Contact Group on Piracy Off the Coast of Somalia.

The US will also seek the release of ships and crews already held by pirates, and look at alternative methods of combating the bandits.

In other developments, a French warship managed to arrest 11 suspected pirates on Wednesday, after tracking them to a mother ship 925 kilometres off the Kenyan coast.

And the 19 crew members involved in the Maersk Alabama ordeal returned home on Thursday. They were met by family and friends at the Andrews military base near Washington.