Sunday, December 14, 2008

Navy, Pirates Find No Takers


A day after INS Mysore responded to an SOS message transmitted by an Ethiopian merchant vessel to ward-off pirates attempting to hijack the ship in the Gulf of Aden, The Indian Navy is saddled with two-dozen pirates, it captured during the operation, as no country was willing to take them into custody.

India has, reportedly, approached Yemen asking it to prosecute the pirates in line with its commitment of contributing to anti-piracy operations in the area.

According to the Navy, 11 of the pirates belong to Yemen. The remaining 12 are Somalis. With a huge political crises continuing since the President of Somalia fired his government, there are no official takers in Somalia.

The subject was the focus of discussions at a roundtable on anti-piracy operations in Manama on Saturday to which India was invited. The consensus that emerged was that there was no enabling provision in the international law to deal with a situation where pirates are arrested in the international waters.

INS Mysore has to carry the pirates on board till a country accepts them for prosecution.

No comments: