EU Naval Force - Somalia
Operation ATALANTA

UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG), Augustine P. Mahiga, spoke clear words on how to counter Piracy off the coast of Somalia on the occasion of 20th Meeting of the International Contact Group (ICG) on Somalia in Copenhagen, Denmark.

SRSG Mahiga urged the “growing need to deliver Somali capacity to deal with its own piracy problem”, which” comes down to stop pirates going to sea”. His clear message, SRSG Mahiga said to the audience, “I believe the international naval forces need to play a more robust role”. He continued that while pirate groups are preparing to deploy “they are at their most vulnerable stage”.

Most urgently, SRSG Mahiga advocated that “the continued payment of ransoms and the use of force to speed up that process has to come to an end.” Payment of ransom “is putting more lives at risk as the business model continues to flourish – that is the lives of other seamen in the region and potentially the lives of the naval forces,” said SRSG Mahiga.

In his statement, SRSG Mahiga also welcomed the achievement of key targets in Somalia, such as the appointment of a single minister to coordinate Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) counter piracy efforts, the developing of a counter piracy strategy in common with other regions and administrations and the drafting of a counter piracy law as well as the declaration of a Somali Exclusive Economic Zone.

Read full transcript of the speech