US calls for international cooperation to combat sea piracy

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

COPENHAGEN (AFP) — The United States called Wednesday for increased civilian and military cooperation worldwide to combat sea piracy, off the perilous coasts of Africa in particular.

Maritime forces should unite with insurance and shipping companies to make it "so hard, so difficult, and high risk for pirates to undertake their business that they stop doing it," Admiral Gary Roughead, the chief of US navy operations, told AFP.

He was speaking on the sidelines of a conference in Copenhagen on maritime security which grouped more than 200 representatives from 60 countries, including navies, non-governmental organisations and NATO.

The two-day meeting was organised by Denmark and the United States to discuss ways of combatting a disturbing rise in incidents of...