UAE to Target ‘Pirate Kingpins’

The UAE has said the international response to maritime piracy should be increasingly led and owned by states in the region directly affected

UAE: Target ‘pirate kingpins’ who underwrite pirate operations

The UAE has said the international response to maritime piracy should be increasingly led and owned by states in the region directly affected

By Samir Salama, Associate Editor

Abu Dhabi: The UAE has said the international response to maritime piracy should be increasingly led and owned by states in the region directly affected.

As the Chair of the 11th Session of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, the UAE praised the ‘tangible advances’ the Working Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia has made and upped the international response.

In his statement before the 21st meeting of the group in Djibouti on Monday, Faris Mohammad Al Mazrouei, assistant foreign minister for security and military affairs, said the Contact Group has facilitated the construction of a comprehensive counter-piracy legal regime among regional states, and supported the prosecution, trial and incarceration of apprehended pirates.

“Today, more than 1000 pirates have faced trial – most within the region,” he said.

Al Mazrouei also cited the group’s extensive work to raise awareness of the threat from piracy: both in terms of keeping this issue high on the agenda of the international community, and also…….[access full article]