NATO escorts shipload of supplies to Somalia

[unhappycamper]

NATO escorts shipload of supplies to Somalia
By Malkhadir M. Muhumed - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Oct 29, 2008 6:16:46 EDT

NAIROBI, Kenya — NATO warships safely escorted a cargo of supplies through the pirate-infested waters off Somalia on Monday for the first time and hijackers holding an arms-laden Ukrainian vessel said its operators do not want to negotiate for the weapons.

One of the seven alliance ships that arrived in the region over the weekend guarded a vessel supplying African Union peacekeeping troops to its Somali destination. The flotilla’s mission is to conduct anti-piracy patrols and guard World Food Program aid shipments.

“The operation is moving well,” NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said in Brussels. “The present state of play is that a NATO ship just finished escorting a ship which was bringing in supplies to the Burundi battalion ... in Somalia.”

Somalia, caught up in an Islamic insurgency, has not had a functioning government since 1991. It has no navy or coast guard and cannot guard its coastline, which includes the Gulf of Aden, one of the world’s busiest and most dangerous shipping lanes.

The arms-laden Ukrainian cargo ship MV Faina, hijacked Sept. 25 with a cargo of 33 battle tanks and heavy weaponry, focused international attention on the pirate menace off the Horn of Africa. Ships of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet have surrounded it for a month to be sure the cargo does not get into the hands of insurgent groups linked to al-Qaida.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/10/ap_piracy_nato_102708/%2e