Dubai: The international community should assist local groups along the Somali coastal line to fight piracy and cut off pirates' logistic aid, urged a Somali official taking part in the two-day Maritime Counter Piracy Conference held in Dubai, which concluded on Tuesday.
Mohammad Abdullahi Omar Asharq, foreign minister of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, told Gulf News that coastal villagers are very cooperative and sincere, but a lot has to be done to support them.
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"Coastal villages in Somalia have been ordered to stop pirates from getting facilities, and the residents are not cooperating with them any more. They do not sell them food, or give them petrol, and they are not helping them in any way," he noted.
Saeed Saleh, Chairman, Somali Volunteers for Search and Rescue, pointed out that pirates are no longer concentrated in the northern region of the country but are now moving southwards looking for cooperation from residents in the coastal area.
Shedding light on the nature of Somali pirates, the Somali Foreign Minister explained that they are merely young foot soldiers hired to do a second party's "dirty work," since the pirates themselves do not have the necessary skills required to carry out the logistical and financial operations.
"Piracy is a highly sophisticated organisation and these pirates are 20-year-olds who have never been to school or travelled outside the country. They are young boys hired to do the dirty work of somebody else," Asharq said.
Saleh said that he believes there is a slight chance that the Islamist group Al Shabab, which is fighting to overthrow the government of Somalia, may be helping the pirates.
