US official denies deal on Somalian piracy patrols

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2006

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States has made no deal with Somalia to run anti-piracy patrols off its coast, a US official said, denying claims by the East African country's prime minister.

"There is no such deal as alleged," said the State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We haven't made any arrangement to patrol those waters."

Somalia's transitional prime minister, Ali Mohamed Gedi, earlier said he had secured a "milestone" agreement for US Navy ships to patrol the waters where an increasing number of merchant ships have come under attack.

Gedi told AFP that ships from the Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet, which have already moved against Somali pirates in international waters in the Indian Ocean, would now operate within Somalia's...