Norway to lead fight against pirates

"Fridtjof Nansen" joined the anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia on Aug. 14.

Norway has taken over the leadership of the UN contact group which coordinates the measures to be taken in the fight against the problem of piracy off the coast of Somalia and in the Bay of Aden, reports The Norway Post.

Norway takes over from Japan, and will lead the group until the contact group’s next meeting in January.

A group of almost 40 nations and international organizations gathered on Sept. 9 at U.N. headquarters in New York for their fourth major session on deterring Somali piracy.

The group is considering setting up a special international court which will be able to try persons accused of piracy.

On Sept. 11, it was also reported that a new U.N.-administered international trust fund has set up, with Germany and Norway becoming the first to pledge hundreds of thousands of dollars to it to help pay for transporting witnesses, collecting evidence and other costs of prosecuting pirates that the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is prohibited from covering.

There have been 138 pirate attacks off the Horn of Africa so far this year, of which 33 have succeeded.

In August Norway sent the frigate “Fridtjof Nansen” to join the EU-operated NAVFOR Atalanta which patrols the waters off Somalia and the Bay of Aden.