Oct 1, 2008 10:00 am US/Central
Somalia OK's Force To Retake Pirate-Held Ship
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) ―
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In this handout image provided by the U.S. Navy, the MV Faina, receives supplies as it is observed by the guided-missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf (CG 72) September 29, 2008 at sea in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Hoybyo, Somalia.
Jason Zalasky/U.S. Navy /Getty Images
Not long after Somalia's foreign ministry gave foreign powers permission to use force against the Somali pirates who hijacked a Ukrainian ship, several European Union states expressed interest Wednesday in helping to protect shipping from pirates off Somalia.
France's defense minister says at least eight EU member states want to join an international operation to protect shipping from pirates off Somalia.
Herve Morin says EU defense ministers have given their go-ahead for planning related to the operation and called for coordination with NATO, which has military ships in the Indian Ocean.
Morin says there's a "very great willingness" to join the operation among members of the 27-nation bloc.
He told reporters Wednesday that Belgium, Cyprus, France, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden have volunteered and British participation also appeared to be a possibility.
Mohamed Jama Ali, the Somalian ministry's acting permanent director, said his country granted its permission of foreign powers using force on the condition that these nations coordinate their actions with Somali government officials beforehand.
"The international community has permission to fight with the pirates," Ali told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "Permission to use force was given."
He also said that negotiations between the ship's Ukrainian owners and the pirates were taking place by telephone, but that "no other side is involved in negotiations."
Last week's hijacking of the Ukrainian ship MV Faina - carrying 33 Soviet-made T-72 tanks, rifles, and heavy weapons that U.S. defense officials have said included rocket launchers - was the highest profile act of piracy in the dangerous waters off Somalia this year.
The ship, which carried a crew of 21, is surrounded by several U.S. warships off the central coast of Somalia and helicopters are buzzing overhead. The U.S. warships are not allowing the pirates to take any weapons off the seized ship. One crew member has reportedly died.
Moscow also has dispatched a warship to the scene, saying it must protect the lives of the Russians aboard the captive vessel. It is expected to take about a week to arrive.
The U.S. Navy says it wants to keep the arms out of the hands of militants linked to al Qaeda in impoverished Somalia, a key battleground in the war on terrorism. To that end, it has surrounded the Faina, anchored off the central Somali town of Hobyo, with half a dozen ships, including USS guided missile destroyer USS Howard, which has sophisticated weapons and monitoring equipment.
A spokesman for the U.S. 5th fleet in Manama, Bahrain, the control point for the USS Howard, stressed that "while our ships remain on station in the area, we are not participating in negotiations between the pirates and the ship owners."
Most pirate attacks occur in the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, north of Somalia. But recently pirates have been targeting Indian Ocean waters off eastern Somalia.
Some 62 ships have been attacked in the notorious African waters this year. A total of 26 ships were hijacked, and 12 remain in the hands of the pirates along with more than 200 crew members.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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