The European Union announced plans on Monday to deploy a training mission for Somali security forces so that they can tackle the pirates operating along Somalia’s coast.
 

The EU will send a planning team to the crisis-hit horn of Africa next month. Member nations have already sent navy ships on an anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden, but the Somali government has always argued the most effective way is to let its own security forces defeat the pirates on the ground.
 

The mission was first proposed by the French government. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the EU has accepted in principle to participate in it, but doubts whether many EU countries will ultimately join despite their good intentions. He said Kenya and the Arab League have also expressed their interest in supporting the mission.

Modern pirates have been roaming the coasts of north-east-Africa since 1995. They are regarded as one of the biggest threats to international commercial shipping.

Pirates attacked 240 ships around the world in the first half of the year according to the International Maritime Bureau, almost twice as many as in the same period in 2008.

By far the most attacks took place in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia.