(SomaliNet) The Kenyan Transport minister has dismissed calls to Kenyan Government to provide arms for ships delivering food aid for the World Food Programme (WFP) in Somalia to protect the crew against armed pirates. Mr. Chirau Ali Mwakwere said International protocols and conventions do not allow any country to give arms to commercial merchant ships crew. Kenyan government has ruled out the possibility of Kenya providing arms to cargo ships crew travelling to war-torn Somalia.
"The international protocols and conventions allow only naval ships to carry arms and we cannot violate this regulation," Mwakwere said. Mwakwere said at the weekend that Kenya and Somalia authorities were addressing the issue of pirates. The Minister also advised ship owners to install modern communication gadgets to enable crew make distress calls promptly. He said even if commercial ships crew were to be armed, the issue would fall under the ministries of Defence and Internal Security.
WFP Deputy Country Director, Mr Leo van dee Velden, said arming commercial vessels crew would not stop attacks on ships. "I think the most effective way is to arrest the pirates on land and not wait until they attack ships at sea," Velden said.-The Standard
Mon. April 16, 2007 06:53 am.- By Bonny Apunyu. -
http://somalinet.com/news/world/East%20Africa/9551
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