By Patrick Beja
Kenya is pushing for the establishment of a
special force to stop attacks on ships within her waters.
Transport Minister Amos Kimunya said other
measures to combat piracy and armed robbery against ships included enhanced
patrols and aerial surveillance.
“The proposals for the establishment of a
Coast guard that will further enhance our naval capacity within the territorial
waters and exclusive economic zone (sea zone over which a State has special
rights over the exploration and use of marine resources) are also at an
advanced stage,” Kimunya said.
He said a maritime security zone has been
established outside the port of Mombasa for vessels waiting for berths at the
port.
The minister made the remarks in a speech
read on his behalf by assistant minister Simon Ogari at the World Maritime Day
celebrations at Bandari College at the weekend.
Ogari said establishment of the Coast guard
was being considered to boost security of Kenyan waters.
Kenya Maritime Authority director general
Nancy Karigithu said the Coast guard would be in charge of security in Kenyan
waters to boost efforts by other agencies such as navy, police and wildlife
forces.
Mrs Karigithu said no ships were attacked
in Kenyan territorial waters this year. She said the ship sailing to Mombasa
port was attacked at about 296 nautical miles south east of Mombasa, which is
in the high seas.
“As you are aware Kenya’s territorial
waters run up to a distance of 12 nautical miles and the EEZ ends at 200
nautical miles from the baseline,” she explained during the celebrations under
the theme ‘Piracy: Orchestrating the Response’.
Registration
of vessels
She denied a media report that Mv Pacific
Express was recently attacked in Kenyan waters.
She said reports of pirates firing Rocket
Propelled Grenades at citadel doors at close range or even setting fire to
ships while the crew is below decks were grave concerns that make Kenya join
the international community in developing solutions.
At the same time, she said KMA was
compiling data for boats and jetties at the Coast to enhance maritime safety
and security.
She said the authority was developing
strong partnership with the small vessel community to enhance maritime domain
awareness through improvement in co-ordination and communication between the
public and private sectors.
“A vessel operator or jetty owner is well
suited to notice suspicious activities as a person who spends much time on or
near the water owing to the knowledge of what is normal and what is not,” she
said.
Karigithu said KMA was also developing
regulations for operations of private jetties and landing sites.
“Registration of all vessels and
identification of the owners is also ongoing to aid the identification of
activities that the vessels are involved and identification of the owners for
security personnel while on patrol,” she said.
Seafarers of Kenya general secretary
Abubakar Omar called on Government to consider buying its own ships and hire
local sailors.
