IMO pushes for regional help on piracy

IMO pushes for regional help on piracy The International Maritime Organization held a meeting Monday in Djibouti to help address the problem of piracy and armed robbery against ships off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden.
   The IMO is expected to adopt a regional agreement to assist countries in the region to build capacity to suppress piracy and armed robbery against ships in the Western Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden.
   IMO Secretary General Efthimios E. Mitropoulos said at the meeting that the contributing alliances of governments, organizations and individual countries — specifically the European Union, NATO and China, India, the Russian Federation and Saudi Arabia — had done their duty and that the time had come for countries in the region to add their own contribution to the concerted efforts of the international community.
   It is “time for Somalia itself to act,' Mitropoulos said. 'One can have few hopes that the situation at sea will improve dramatically unless and until there is significant improvement on the political front on land. For it is favorable political developments ashore that will help stem the scourge offshore.'
   The Djibouti meeting is set to conclude Thursday. It includes senior officers from the maritime and port authorities of Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Jordan, Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, the United Republic of Tanzania and Yemen as well as from other IMO member states.