AFP/Nasdaq Global Markets, France/US
NAIROBI — Eritrea Thursday described a recent string of attacks by Somali pirates as rumors and claimed that foreign vessels had been plundering Somalia’s fish and marine resources.
“Foreign companies are engaged in the looting of fishery and other marine resources in the territorial waters of Somalia and the Southern Red Sea,” the Eritrean foreign ministry said in a statement.
“Amid such illegal practices not different from acts of theft and banditry, rumors have repeatedly been disseminated over the past months claiming that pirates have been seizing ships in Somali territorial waters,” it said.
The Foreign Ministry said that foreign media outlets had no means of verifying claims that merchant vessels and other ships were indeed being hijacked along Somalia’s unpatrolled coastline.
“This campaign is designed to cover up these naked acts of looting and gross violation of international laws being committed in the territorial waters of Somalia and the southern Red Sea,” the statement said.
It went on to claim that the emphasis on the surge in acts of piracy was being used as a pretext by foreign players to increase their military presence in the region.
According to Somali officials and several maritime organizations, Somali pirates are holding several ships hostage off the coast of the troubled Horn of Africa country.
