27.05.2010
To protect vessels from pirate attacks, crews of cargo ships should include security teams, said Anatoly Kulikov, the chairman of World Anti-Criminal and Antiterrorism Forum (WAAF) and former Minister of Interior of the Russian Federation.
"It is costly affair to maintain powerful naval forces for that purpose. Probably, it would be more efficient to attach a sort of security teams to civil ships", said Kulikov at his speech in parliament during transport security conference.
He pointed out that 217 pirate assaults were held in 2009 near the Horn of Africa (East African region comprising Ethiopia and its controlled countries – Djibouti, Eritrea, and Somalia).
Each fifth of those assaults resulted in vessel's capture, said Kulikov. "Total ransom paid is about $82 mln", added the expert.
UN Security Council has been studying this problem for over 1.5 years now, although "so far this work has met with only limited success, i.e. agreement on military patrols and extension of arms embargo for Somali", said the expert.
Despite the fact that mentioned embargo has been in effect since 1992, pirates are well-armed with quite modern weapons, reminded Kulikov. Moreover, they expanded their activity zone and began to attack upon larger and faster vessels, stated the forum's chairman.
As for Kulikov, it is necessary to work thoroughly on technical options to prevent hijacking.
