Italy to use military to guard merchant ships against Somali Pirates

An undated file picture released to Reuters October 11, 2011 shows Italian ship Montecristo docked in a harbour in Italy. REUTERS/Handout

ROME, (Reuters) — Italy will deploy a special naval force on merchant vessels to protect them from Somali pirates, in an escalation of international efforts to prevent attacks that cost the world economy billions of dollars each year.
The new strategy, announced by Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa on Tuesday, came the day after another Italian vessel was hijacked off the anarchic east African country.
Many ships already carry private security contractors to counter the scourge of Somali piracy, but deployment of military forces is a significant boost in measures that have previously been hampered by disputes over the legality of using lethal force against pirates.
La Russa said the force of naval soldiers would be divided into 10 groups of six to protect vessels using the busy but highly vulnerable waterways in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden. It would be based in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa.
Somali pirates operate hundreds of miles off the coast in vast tracts of ocean by using mother ships from which small boats are launched carrying men armed with rocket propelled grenades and assault rifles.
The latest Italian vessel to be hijacked, the Montecristo, was attacked 620 miles off the Horn of Africa coast on Monday morning, its owners said. La Russa said none of the 23 crew from Italy, India and Ukraine had been harmed.
The commander of the Italian navy, Admiral Bruno Branciforte, told reporters in a joint news conference with La Russa that the naval force would be deployed quickly, after its rules of engagement had been defined.
A decree law allowing the use of private security contractors and military forces was passed in parliament at the beginning of September. The defense ministry signed a protocol on Tuesday with Italian shipowners on deployment of the force, for which the owners will pay the costs.