Somali piracy must be stopped "on land"

By Andrew Cawthorne and Abdiaziz Hassan

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Rampant piracy off Somalia can only be stopped with stability and security onshore, not by international navies patrolling ever-larger stretches of sea, the Horn of Africa nation's fledgling government said.

"It is a tragedy that things should have come to this stage," Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Omaar told Reuters about the upsurge of attacks on foreign ships including the gripping case of an American hostage on a lifeboat.

"But also this demonstrates clearly and categorically that the issue is based on land and has to be resolved on land."

Omaar said the international community should focus resources on helping build up national security forces for the government that is the 15th attempt to restore central rule to Somalia since it slipped into anarchy in 1991.

"We can certainly resolve (piracy) in partnership with the international community. Our first priority is to re-establish the rule of law. For that, we have requested from the foreign community assistance to build our security forces," he said.

Omaar, 55, a British-educated businessman and consultant from an influential Somali diaspora family, has been traveling around the world since his appointment in February to rally support for President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's government.

"The international community is as much in need of rule of law in Somalia as the people of Somalia," he said, noting the impact of piracy on global trade via strategic shipping lanes.

Ahmed's administration, which has broad domestic and international support, is still seen as the best chance for stability in years, diplomats say, despite facing an Islamist insurgency and controlling little beyond areas of the capital.