[Al Arabiya] Spain will help Somalia to develop its fishing industry in an effort to fight piracy off the African country's lawless coast, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said Tuesday.
| They'll keep the Europeans from fishing out Somali waters? Good luck with that. Besides, until the cost of going a-pirating substantially exceeds the profits, there's no reason for the pirates to change careers. |
"The goal is to turn pirates into fishermen," he told a news conference at the end of a two-day meeting in Madrid of the U.N.-backed International Contact Group on Somalia. "We believe that Spain, with its great fishing tradition and capacity to provide training, can help Somalia recover a key sector that is fundamental to the country's future."
Spain's environment ministry would work with Somalia's central government to identify pilot projects that can help develop the African nation's fishing industry, the minister said.
The waters around the Horn of Africa, especially off the Somali coast, have become a hub for piracy, making the busy shipping routes to the Suez Canal among the most dangerous in the world. The pirate gangs that operate from towns along Somalia's coast demand and often receive ransoms that in some cases have reached five million dollars.
Moratinos said Madrid would also contribute €3 million ($4 million) to Somalia's Transitional Federal Government, which is struggling to fight piracy and an offensive by Shabab Islamic hard boys. "If we want to eliminate the pirates we have to consolidate the control, stability and development of Somalia," he said.
| And giving money to that incompetent bunch advances those objectives how, exactly? |
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