The international call to action on piracy in Somalia is necessary and urgent. The continual loss of ships and their cargoes, and the serious risk to the lives of mariners, is too great for the international community to endure for much longer.
This week's Maritime Counter-Piracy Conference held in Dubai was right to seek a way to end the problem by focusing on two tracks of action: Very tough military action against the pirates, and substantial community programmes to change the environment which allows the pirates to operate with impunity.
The scale of the problem is growing. The International Maritime Bureau reports that out of a worldwide total of 156 attacks on ships this year, 107 were carried out from Somalia, where this week pirates were holding 26 vessels hostage with a shockingly high number of 532 people trapped on board as prisoners.
This scourge cannot be allowed to continue as if it is normal business practice. Ship-owners and their crew should be able to continue about their business without fear. Some nations have already shown the way by attacking the pirates, particularly naval forces from Asian nations, but it needs to become an all-out onslaught on the pirates and their bases.
