France Steps Up on Piracy Off Somalia

France is offering to send a warship to protect international food aid shipments to Somalia.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 25, 2024 (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said here Tuesday that his country was prepared to send a warship off Somalia to protect delivery of international food aid to beleaguered Somalis from attacks by pirates.

"France is prepared to send a warship to protect humanitarian supplies," he told reporters after chairing a Security Council on Africa.

Piracy is common in the waters off Somalia, which has been without an effective government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre sparked a bloody power struggle.

"France stands ready to ensure security for the assistance provided by the World Food Program in Somalia for a period of two months using naval military resources," the French leader told the 15-member Council. "I call on all those who wish to do so to join this initiative".

Since Somalia's Islamist movement was defeated in January and its leaders routed out of the country.

But violence has raged despite a recent government-sponsored reconciliation conference, which was boycotted by Islamist-led opposition groups, and ended with little progress.

At a time when Lex and CDR Salamander are talking about Letters of Marque as an option for the US to address piracy, and Blackwater is sailing their new naval vessel around Norfolk, it looks like the Europeans are willing to do it the old fashion way.

If the political will existed in the US, the US Navy could handle this problem easily. The biggest problem isn't will though, it is specific to the right of hot pursuit in the waters around Somalia. An example of the issues surrounding the right of hot pursuit is given by Eagle1 this morning, this time in the Malacca Strait.