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Press TV
Ireland Says its ready to join the fight against Somalia pirates off the coast of Africa as part of an EU naval Mission and to guard WFP food help for the African country, Press TV reports.
Ireland Minster of State Fergus O’Dowd confirmed that his country was considering sending Personnel detachment to West Africa, a Press TV correspondent reported on Monday.
Ireland has been asked by the EU naval mission in the area, EU NAVFOR's Operation Atlanta, to join the struggle against the pirates.
An Irish vessel called an Autonomous Vessel Protection Detachment, (AVPD), would be used to protect vessels such as food aid ships from the World Food Program without a naval escort.
Ireland currently has seven soldiers to in the EUTM Somalia, an EU-mission based in Uganda which trains Somali forces to fight the al-Shabaab militants.
Rampant piracy off the Indian Ocean coast of Somalia has made the waters among the most dangerous in the world.
The Gulf of Aden, which links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea, is the quickest route for more than 20,000 vessels traveling annually between Asia, Europe and the Americas.
However, attacks by heavily armed Somali pirates on speedboats have prompted some of the world's largest shipping firms to switch routes from the Suez Canal and reroute cargo vessels around southern Africa, causing more shipping costs
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