Asian shipowners will lobby the global shipping industry to back a proposal for the deployment of United Nations troops on merchant ships in order to combat pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.
Elvin Tan, executive officer of the Asian Shipowners' Forum in Singapore, confirmed approaches would be made to groups including Intertanko, which represents tanker owners, Bimco, and the International Chamber of Shipping. The forum's members include shipowning groups in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan.
Tim Wilkins, Asia-Pacific regional manager for Intertanko Asia in Singapore, said he had received initial details from the forum on Wednesday and that these had been forwarded to Intertanko's London headquarters.
Tan said that if the forum's proposal was accepted it would see armed military personnel, sponsored and managed by the UN, providing protection to merchant ships and their crews transiting pirate-infested waters. The troops could use floating bases to transfer to and from merchant ships, Tan said. Further details, including who would pay for the troops and which countries would commit soldiers, would have to be worked out later, he added.
Tan agreed that while some countries are squeezing defence budgets, others had military assets that could be deployed. He also agreed army personnel would probably be 'sea-sick all the way', so naval personnel or marines would be favoured.
Tan said a summary of its proposal was given at a working group meeting of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia in Washington DC on February 28. The plan is expected to be submitted to a meeting of another working group in London later this year. The contact group was established in January 2009 under a UN security council resolution to facilitate action by states and organisations to suppress piracy.