Brussels - 23 March -ANA- As piracy in the Indian Ocean is getting more lucrative and more violent, the European Union (EU) has agreed to expand its mission against Somali pirates, by allowing military forces to attack land targets as well as those at sea.
Fighting piracy has become a priority of the mission in the Horn of Africa and EU defence ministers agreed warships could target boats and fuel dumps in a two-year extension of its mission.
The move is a significant step-up in operations, but one that also risks escalation as up to 10 EU naval ships are currently on patrol off the Horn of Africa.
They have policed shipping routes and protected humanitarian aid since 2008 and the extension means they will stay until at least December 2014.
The EU naval force, Navfor, which patrols the area, is now under mounting pressure to take an aggressive action to put an end to years of mayhem on the Indian Ocean.
The EU says the main tasks of the mission are the protection of vessels of the World Food Programme delivering food aid to displaced people in Somalia, and the fight against piracy off the Somali coast.
"Today's important decision extends [Operation] Atalanta's mandate for two more years and allows it to take more robust action on the Somali coast," the EU's foreign policy head Catherine Ashton said in a statement on Friday, adding that the EU would be working with Somalia's transitional federal government and other Somali organisations to support their fight against piracy from the coastal area.
Brussels also said the Somali government had told the UN secretary general that it accepted its new offer of collaboration.
The statement also said "a budget of 14.9m euros (£12.4m; $19.7m) is provided for the common costs of the prolonged mandate".
In February world leaders agreed to boost support for measures to fight piracy, terrorism and political instability in Somalia, at a conference held in London.
The summit agreed a seven-point plan promising more humanitarian aid, support for African Union peacekeepers and better international co-ordination.
On Wednesday British woman Judith Tebbutt was freed by Somali pirates after being held hostage for more than six months but her husband paid a heavy price.
The Times newspaper claims her family paid a ransom of $1.3m (£800,000), which was dropped from an aircraft.
Currently there are at least 35 ships  being held, along with more than 700 hostages. The pirates are getting bolder and using ships, far out to sea, to hold large captive vessels with hostages onboard that allow them to stay in business during the violent monsoon winds.
The question is whether the new measures wuill serve as a strong deterrent or the rewards are just too tempting for Somali pirates to be persuaded by a handful of international warships patrolling over 4m sq km.
When you have one of the richest-ever cargos of crude oil seized off Oman last year, worth $200m, it is time the international community must act.
A two-decade war has wrecked Somalia, leaving it without a proper government.
The transitional government only controls the capital Mogadishu, while al-Shabab militants, hold a large part of Somalia’s of territory. (ANA)

AB/ANA/23 march 2012 ---