Ireland to help Somalis fight pirates

IRELAND is to take part in training Somali security forces to help combat the pirates that have been terrorising vessels along the African coast and in some cases kidnapping and murdering their crew.

Operation Atalanta, put together by EU nations, has been successful in reducing the number of attacks, but EU defence ministers decided more needed to be done to tackle the root causes.

Part of this is training Somali military to deal with the threat as part of the help to the transitional government.

Defence Minister Tony Killeen said the Government has agreed to deploy five personnel to assist in the training of potential Somali non-commissioned officers.

It is expected the five will be part of a 100-strong EU group who will give six months basic training to about 1,000 Somali recruits.

The Government has committed to contribute personnel for a year.

Mr Killeen said: “The development and training of the security forces is supported and mandated by the UN and we expect it will help strengthen the transitional government as a functioning government serving the Somali population”.