The Arab Peace and Security Council (APSC) on Monday discussed possible ways to fight Somali piracy, which threatens naval vessels crossing the Gulf of Aden at the Red Sea.
The APSC maintained that securing the Red Sea was an Arab responsibility and therefore should not be internationalized.
The participants at the meeting, which was headed by the Arab League’s Secretary-General ‘Amru Moussa, suggested that a pan-Arab peacekeeping naval force should be established to confront Somali pirates.
Another suggestion was the establishment of marine police on the Red Sea, with the participation of all the surrounding countries.
The suggestions will be raised at the next meeting of Arab foreign ministers.
The APSC is scheduled to meet again next week to discuss the plans in depth.
The United Nations’ Security Council (UNSC) last June unanimously adopted a resolution, according to which countries working with the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) combating piracy would be able to enter the country’s territorial waters to repress such acts until the end of 2008.
The UNSC announced it deplored acts of piracy off the coast of Somalia, which impeded the delivery of relief supplies by ships operated by the U.N. World Food Program and other relief agencies.
The UNSC called on countries whose military ships and planes operate off the Horn of Africa to coordinate efforts to curb piracy with other nations, as well as with the TFG and international organizations such as the U.N. International Maritime Organization.