By IANS,
London : World leaders will gather here Thursday to plan a crackdown on Somali pirates. Special courtrooms in the Seychelles and Mauritius and “pirate prisons” are among measures to be outlined, The Independent reported Sunday.
The aim of the gathering will be to hammer out a plan to improve stability in Somalia, which for more than 20 years has been lawless and beset by pirate gangs, rival clan militias and Islamist terrorists, the newspaper said.
More than 4,000 Somali pirates have been captured and released since 1999, nearly five times the number that have been successfully prosecuted. Not a single convicted pirate has completed his sentence.
Britain will work alongside UN officials looking at a range of measures, including transferring pirates to the Seychelles and Mauritius for trial under international law, and pouring money into internationally managed prisons in Puntland, to the northeast, and Somaliland, in the north. Delegates will also consider bringing captured pirates to Britain for prosecution.