BRUSSELS — Somalia’s foreign minister urged the international community today to help its fledgling government set up a coast guard service to fight piracy along the country’s lawless coastline.
“We will be establishing a coast guard because this is essential for the establishment of the rule of law both along the coastline and in Somali waters,” Foreign Minister Mohamed Omaar told The Associated Press in an interview.
Omaar was speaking before an international conference sponsored by the United Nations and the European Union in Brussels aimed at pledging donor support for the interim government’s nascent security forces and for the African Union peacekeeping contingent deployed in the volatile nation.
The United States, European Union and other nations expect that Thursday’s meeting will strengthen the security forces’ ability to assert government authority over the country, including pirate strongholds, and thus prevent attacks on shipping in the busy sea lanes around the Horn of Africa.
“It is part and parcel of our expectations that this conference will fund and support the government to establish an effective and operational coast guard service,” Omaar said.
Pirate gangs operating along Somalia’s 2,400-mile-long coastline have become increasingly audacious over the past two years, hijacking dozens of merchant ships and their crews. They reportedly have earned huge sums in ransom payments from the vessels’ owners.
The international conference expects to raise at least $215 million at the meeting, which will open this afternoon with preparatory talks and continue on Thursday under the auspices of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and European Union leaders.
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