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SOMALIA: POWERLESS GOVERNMENT DEMANDS THE RELEASE OF HIJACKED SHIPS. October 24, 2005
<|hussein_aidid1005.jpg||left|>The minister of internal affairs, Mr. Hussein Farah Aidid demanded free release of all ships that are held in Somalia waters by pirates. He told reporters his government is doing everything in its power to release all held ships and to prevent future hijackings.
In a press conference he held at his home yesterday, Mr. Aidid said sea pirating is one of the most difficult tasks facing the government now and it needs to be dealt with. He also said he is working with Ukraine government whose ship with Malta flag was hijacked in eastern Somalia waters last week.
Hijacking ships in Somalia waters has been increasing steadily in the past several months.
Neighboring Kenya answered a call from Somali Prime Minister, Ali Mohamed Gedi and is said to be sending warships and boats to Somalia coastline in order to give international freight vessels safe passage while in Somalia territorial. However, Kenya alone cannot patrol Africa's longest coastline.
Somalia government doesn't have even one coastguard boat while pirates utilize state of the art armed high-speed boats with everything from GPS units to satellite phones.