Whisper
August 7th, 2008, 03:27 AM
CANADA’S decision to send a warship to combat piracy off drought-stricken Somalia is welcome news.
Pirates operating from the Horn of Africa have terrorized shipping in the region for many decades. In Somalia, an ongoing war between the UN-backed transitional government and Islamic militias, crop failures and out-of-control inflation has left millions of people facing starvation unless aid supplies can be delivered to the country. But pirates have seized dozens of ships, including World Food Programme vessels, every year. That hurts relief efforts and makes ship owners reluctant to allow their vessels to enter Somali waters.
Warships from France, Denmark and Holland escorted food shipments to the country from last November through the end of June, but since then the WFP has been pleading for another country to step up and provide security for those desperately-needed supplies. On Tuesday, Defence Minister Peter MacKay commendably announced the frigate HMCS Ville de Quebec – which left Halifax July 17 for a NATO mission in the Mediterranean and Black seas – will divert to Somalia to provide security from pirates for food shipments until the end of September.
In June, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution – with the consent of the transitional government in Somalia – allowing foreign warships to freely enter Somali territorial waters for six months to fight piracy.
Given the magnitude of the human disaster unfolding in that war-torn nation – the WFP says it hopes to feed some 2.4 million people by December – lending Canada’s helping hand to ensure food safely gets through to those in need is clearly the right thing to do.
Longer term, the UN needs to agree upon permanent strategy for dealing with the region’s violent pirates, who frequently brazenly seize vessels and their crews, demand ransom and murder anyone who attempts to resist.
Pirates operating from the Horn of Africa have terrorized shipping in the region for many decades. In Somalia, an ongoing war between the UN-backed transitional government and Islamic militias, crop failures and out-of-control inflation has left millions of people facing starvation unless aid supplies can be delivered to the country. But pirates have seized dozens of ships, including World Food Programme vessels, every year. That hurts relief efforts and makes ship owners reluctant to allow their vessels to enter Somali waters.
Warships from France, Denmark and Holland escorted food shipments to the country from last November through the end of June, but since then the WFP has been pleading for another country to step up and provide security for those desperately-needed supplies. On Tuesday, Defence Minister Peter MacKay commendably announced the frigate HMCS Ville de Quebec – which left Halifax July 17 for a NATO mission in the Mediterranean and Black seas – will divert to Somalia to provide security from pirates for food shipments until the end of September.
In June, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution – with the consent of the transitional government in Somalia – allowing foreign warships to freely enter Somali territorial waters for six months to fight piracy.
Given the magnitude of the human disaster unfolding in that war-torn nation – the WFP says it hopes to feed some 2.4 million people by December – lending Canada’s helping hand to ensure food safely gets through to those in need is clearly the right thing to do.
Longer term, the UN needs to agree upon permanent strategy for dealing with the region’s violent pirates, who frequently brazenly seize vessels and their crews, demand ransom and murder anyone who attempts to resist.