It is clearly important that increased protection is offered to vessels patrolling these waters
Xavier Gizard, CPMR secretary general
Bayonne: The creation of a maritime security force to fight piracy off Somalia has been welcomed by leading representatives of Europe's coastal regions.
Speaking on Thursday, Xavier Gizard, secretary general of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe (CPMR), said the French presidency initiative was a "good idea."
He said, "It is clearly important that increased protection is offered to vessels patrolling these waters. I just hope that we might now see the creation of a similar security force in EU territory to tackle the growing problem of illegal immigration."
The CPMR is pressing for the establishment of a group of EU-wide coastal guards to help stem the tide of illegal immigration, notably from northern Africa, into Europe. It says the idea could be incorporated into the EU's newly-launched maritime policy.
Gizard's comments, at the start of the CPMR's general assembly in the French city of Bayonne, follow an offer by European defence ministers on Wednesday to create a security force to patrol the increasingly hazardous waters off Somalia.
The minister's decision follows last week's hijacking in the Indian Ocean of the Ukranian ship MV Faina, which was carrying 33 Soviet-made T-72 tanks, rifles and heavy weapons - and 20 hostages, one of whom died, apparently of illness. The hostages remain on board and the Faina is surrounded by US warships. Nato also has military ships in the Indian Ocean.
French defence minister Herve Morin, speaking at the meeting in Deauville, said, "We have to solve this."
He pointed to a "very great willingness" to contribute to the operation and said Belgium, Cyprus, France, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden have already volunteered.
He said he proposed that the UK host the mission's operational headquarters.
Roger Middleton, an Africa researcher at Britain's Chatham House think tank, said Europeans have been planning a maritime security force for some time but the seizure of heavy weaponry off Somalia's coast "helped move it up their agenda."
The two-day CPMR assembly brings together senior representatives of over 150 maritime and peripheral regions, plus EU officials including Joe Borg, EU commissioner for fisheries and maritime affairs.
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