International maritime experts, diplomats and security officials will meet in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow to map out ways to protect seafarers and the shipping industry from rampant piracy off Somalia's coast.

Pottengal Mukundan, director of the London-based International Maritime Bureau (IMB), which monitors piracy worldwide, said aggressive measures were needed to fight pirates off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden.

"What we need is for the international community to take strong action to capture and board pirate ships at sea, board motherships and arrest the pirates and hand them over for prosecution," he told AFP .

oil tanker 110608 "The long-term solution for Somalia is to have a shore-based accountable government which is stable, but we can't wait for the long-term solution," said Mukundan, who will address the event organised by Malaysia's Foreign Ministry.

Experts at the two-day conference in Kuala Lumpur will tackle divisive issues including who should pay for anti-piracy operations, and whether crews should be armed or mercenaries hired to guard ships.

There is also a debate over what to do with pirates arrested by the navies patrolling the troubled region, and whether short-term security measures or longer-term development initiatives are the best way to curb high-seas crime.

Speakers include UN envoy for Somalia Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, US naval and coastguard officials, Tim Wilkins from owners' association INTERTANKO and Somalia's National Security Agency deputy director Nur Mohamed Mohamoud.

The delegates will adopt a statement on Tuesday outlining possible solutions to eliminate the scourge that is disrupting one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes.

Somali piracy started two decades ago

A country of seven million people, Somalia has had no effective central authority since former president Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991, setting off a bloody cycle of clashes between rival factions.

Pirate attacks off Somalia jumped tenfold in the first three months of 2009 compared with last year, jumping from six to 61, according to IMB data.

container cargo ship 260209 Some of the pirates' most spectacular successes came late last year when they seized a Ukrainian cargo ship loaded with combat tanks and other weaponry, as well as a Saudi supertanker carrying US$100 million in crude oil.

Somali piracy started two decades ago with more noble goals of deterring illegal fishing and protecting the nation's resources and sovereignty at a time when the state was collapsing.

Today's pirates have morphed into a sophisticated criminal ring with international ramifications. Anti-piracy naval operations operating under United States, European Union and Nato commands now patrol the region.

Some 20 foreign warships cruise Somalia's coast on any given day, in a partly successful effort to protect the trade route, but experts at the meeting will discuss a more comprehensive solution.

John Harrison, a maritime expert with the Singapore-based S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said the lack of punishment for offenders had caused piracy to blossom.

"There is a will from the criminal side but very little will from the international side to prosecute," he said.

"Monitoring and arresting Somali pirates are short-term measures. The longer-term solution would be to solve the land-based problems that have caused Somalis to go into piracy." - AFP