20091223

LONDON (Reuters) - Ships using the Indian Ocean will not receive the same level of naval protection from pirates as those in the Gulf of Aden because military resources are tight, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said.

Somali pirates have made tens of millions of dollars in ransoms by hijacking ships in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, which links Europe to Asia.

In a letter this month to maritime union Nautilus International and seen by Reuters, Miliband said pirates were focusing more on the Indian Ocean and operating further out at sea due to the success of naval operations in the Gulf of Aden.

"Ultimately, however, it will not be possible on practical and resource grounds to provide the level of military security and protection in the Indian Ocean as can be provided in the Gulf of Aden," Miliband wrote.

His comments were a rare public acknowledgement by a British politician of the limitations of the anti-piracy operation.

Foreign navies have been deployed off the Gulf of Aden since the turn of the year and have operated convoys as well as setting up and monitoring a transit corridor for ships to pass through vulnerable points.

But their forces have been stretched over the vast expanses of water including the Indian Ocean, leaving vessels vulnerable.

Britain's Royal Navy had deployed ships this year as part of the European Union anti-piracy force off the Horn of Africa country's coast. The EU mission numbers 7 ships at present.