12/08/08 (B460) Press TV / L’ambassadeur de Somalie au Kenya lance un appel aux Nations unies pour l’envoi d’une force maritime en charge de protéger les navires contre les attaques de pirate. Somali envoy appeals to UN for help (En Anglais – Info lecteur)

Somali ambassador to Kenya has made an appeal to the United Nations to urgently send warships to fight the pirates attacking ships.

Mohamed Ali, the Somalian ambassador, said that there is no doubt the Somali government and its President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed are involved in pirating in the Somalia waters, Press TV correspondent reported Sunday.

The correspondent said that the ambassador has requested the UN should send urgently warships to fight the pirates in the Somali waters.

According to our correspondent, the ambassador added that the president was one of the participants at the ceremony for the release of the two German hostages Friday night, who were abducted from their yacht off the coast of Yemen six weeks ago when they were traveling to Thailand.

It was reported that $1 million ransom was paid, but it was not clear by whom.

He adds that piracy is rife along Somalia’s coast and has increased over the last year.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and turned on each other. Since Somalia does not have a navy, France and the US are drafting a UN resolution that would allow international naval vessels into Somali waters.