DUBAI // The key to fighting piracy is to strengthen the navy and coastguard of Somalia and its neighbours to help them control and patrol their own waters, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, said yesterday.
The UAE has long held that regionally led solutions are vital to fight piracy, and nations must work together to combat the raiders. By identifying specific areas for assistance, the UAE's strategy has been to help develop counter-piracy capabilities and boost the rule of law.
"Central to the UAE's counter-piracy strategy is the recognition that the capability and capacity of countries in the region to combat piracy are varied and at different stages of development," Sheikh Abdullah said ahead of a conference on countering maritime piracy that begins today.
"Determining specific gaps thus allows the UAE to target assistance where it can have the greatest impact, thereby advancing regional partners' security and stability," he said. "The UAE tailors assistance to the specific needs of a country. This is shown, for example, in the support provided to the coast guard and navy of the Seychelles, where the UAE has helped to build facilities and has provided patrol planes."
The Seychelles, a small island nation vulnerable to attacks, has asked for long-term support because of its proximity to Somalia. Over the past few years, the UAE has provided a coastguard headquarters, radar stations, patrol boats and surveillance aircraft.
Anti-piracy conferences in Dubai over the past two years have highlighted the UAE's stance that combating pirates must be backed by development programmes to strengthen local communities.
"By conducting a needs assessment and then helping chart a trajectory towards a comprehensive national strategy, the UAE assists its regional partners in helping themselves," Sheikh Abdullah said.
"This enables countries to develop their own counter-piracy capability, strengthen their rule of law, and protect their sovereignty and territory against the scourge of maritime piracy."
More than 500 delegates, including foreign ministers, heads of global maritime companies and experts, will participate in the two-day summit organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs along with DP World and Abu Dhabi Ports Company.
Since 2010, Somali pirates have increased their range of operations, attacking ships 2,000 kilometres from their coastline.
But a combination of naval patrols and armed guards on merchant vessels have reduced the number of attacks from 176 in 2011 to 35 until October last year.
Pirates have not held UAE-owned vessels since the release of the chemical tanker MV Royal Grace and its 21 hostages on March 8, after more than a year in captivity.
Experts say although piracy is on the decline, with only three attacks in the region this year, the shipping community must remain vigilant.
"The threat of Somali piracy remains," said P Mukundan, director of the International Maritime Bureau.
"There have been a few months of calm with no piracy activity because of the southwest monsoons, which are now coming to an end. It is absolutely vital that the ships remain vigilant and exercise all the measures that they did before in order to deter the pirates.
"It is also very necessary that the navies remain in this area until the threat of piracy is significantly reduced over a longer period of time. It is very easy for piracy to resume its former levels if the vigilance and response against piracy is stopped."
Sheikh Abdullah also stressed that piracy remained a threat to regional security and global commerce.
He said the conference would focus on continuing the fight against piracy that has caused human suffering and economic damage.
Somali piracy cost governments and the shipping industry about US$7billion (Dh25.7bn) a year, according to a report last year by the advocacy group One Earth Future Foundation.
"Improving the capacity of the navies and coastguards of Somalia and its neighbours will not only substantially diminish pirate attacks, it will also help the region in facing other challenges, such as illegal fishing and human trafficking," Sheikh Abdullah said.
"The international community has come a long way, but we are not there yet."
rtalwar@thenational.ae
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Three-day coronation
Royal purification
The entire coronation ceremony extends over three days from May 4-6, but Saturday is the one to watch. At the time of 10:09am the royal purification ceremony begins. Wearing a white robe, the king will enter a pavilion at the Grand Palace, where he will be doused in sacred water from five rivers and four ponds in Thailand. In the distant past water was collected from specific rivers in India, reflecting the influential blend of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology on the coronation. Hindu Brahmins and the country's most senior Buddhist monks will be present. Coronation practices can be traced back thousands of years to ancient India.
The crown
Not long after royal purification rites, the king proceeds to the Baisal Daksin Throne Hall where he receives sacred water from eight directions. Symbolically that means he has received legitimacy from all directions of the kingdom. He ascends the Bhadrapitha Throne, where in regal robes he sits under a Nine-Tiered Umbrella of State. Brahmins will hand the monarch the royal regalia, including a wooden sceptre inlaid with gold, a precious stone-encrusted sword believed to have been found in a lake in northern Cambodia, slippers, and a whisk made from yak's hair.
The Great Crown of Victory is the centrepiece. Tiered, gold and weighing 7.3 kilograms, it has a diamond from India at the top. Vajiralongkorn will personally place the crown on his own head and then issues his first royal command.
The audience
On Saturday afternoon, the newly-crowned king is set to grant a "grand audience" to members of the royal family, the privy council, the cabinet and senior officials. Two hours later the king will visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred space in Thailand, which on normal days is thronged with tourists. He then symbolically moves into the Royal Residence.
The procession
The main element of Sunday's ceremonies, streets across Bangkok's historic heart have been blocked off in preparation for this moment. The king will sit on a royal palanquin carried by soldiers dressed in colourful traditional garb. A 21-gun salute will start the procession. Some 200,000 people are expected to line the seven-kilometre route around the city.
Meet the people
On the last day of the ceremony Rama X will appear on the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall in the Grand Palace at 4:30pm "to receive the good wishes of the people". An hour later, diplomats will be given an audience at the Grand Palace. This is the only time during the ceremony that representatives of foreign governments will greet the king.
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Yahya Al Ghassani's bio
Date of birth: April 18, 1998
Playing position: Winger
Clubs: 2015-2017 – Al Ahli Dubai; March-June 2018 – Paris FC; August – Al Wahda
