EU:THE EU has agreed to deploy an air and naval force in co-operation with Nato to combat piracy off the coast of Africa, writes Jamie Smyth,European Correspondent
At least nine European states will participate in the action to protect busy shipping lanes from heavily armed pirates based in Somalia.
"The aim is to go quickly," said French defence ministry spokesman Laurent Teisseire at an informal meeting of EU ministers.
Somali-based pirates have attacked more than 30 ships this year and are currently holding 13 vessels captive with 200 sailors on board. They operate in the sea lane in the Arabian Sea between Yemen and Somalia, which links Asia to Europe via the Suez canal. The region is critical to maintaining oil supplies that keep the world's economy working.
Last week pirates seized the Ukrainian vessel MV Fainaoff Somalia, with 33 T-72 tanks. About 50 heavily armed pirates are holding the Fainaoff Somalia near Hobyo town.
Several US navy ships are watching it and a Russian warship is also approaching.
Shipping groups have warned that if states do not combat the threat from pirates there could be a repeat of the position in the 1970s when the Suez Canal was closed and shipping diverted around the Cape of Good Hope.
After talks between EU defence ministers yesterday in Deauville, France, French defence minister Hervé Morin said France, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Sweden would participate in the mission. He said Britain had also "opened the door" to possible participation. British defence minister Des Browne said that, as the world's biggest trading grouping, protecting the EU's security and way of life depended on being able to secure global trade routes.
"It's not just inside the EU or on the borders of the European Union, it's off the coast of Somalia and Kenya, it's more broadly, it's ensuring that oil that travels around this world travels around it securely," he said.
German defence minister Franz Josef Jung said EU states planned to deploy three frigates, a supply ship and three surveillance ships.
Ireland will not participate as its does not have the type of maritime capacity required for the mission, according to a spokeswoman for Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea. Mr O'Dea did not attend the meeting, which also discussed the possible winding-up of the EU mission in Bosnia, where some 2,200 troops are deployed.
The situation in Bosnia is now seen as calm enough for withdrawal. Some 45 Irish troops are deployed with the EU force there.
Reuters adds:Kenya yesterday charged a maritime official with giving "alarming" information that the Faina's cargo was bound for Sudan.
Andrew Mwangura - whose East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme monitors shipping in the region and promotes sailors' rights - angered local authorities by saying the Faina'stanks, grenade-launchers and other weaponry were bound for southern Sudan and not Kenya as Nairobi says. That embarrassed Kenya, which brokered an end to Sudan's north-south war in 2005.