Admiral Prince Fahd bin Abdullah bin MohammedAdmiral Prince Fahd bin Abdullah bin Mohammed, the Commander of the Royal Saudi Naval Forces, said Monday that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been following up with a great concern the current developments of the situation in Somalia.
"The Kingdom is also worried about the state of instability in the country of the Horn of Africa due to the deterioration of the security conditions leading to aggravation of the piracy phenomenon, " he said.
Speaking at a joint meeting of the Commanders of the naval forces of the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) member states and the Arab countries on the coast of the Red Sea, held here today, Admiral Prince Fahd bin Abdullah said the Kingdom had earlier hosted a conference for the reconciliation of the Somalian factions in Jeddah, noting that the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz had urged the Somalian factions to take into account the higher interests of their country.
Admiral Prince Fahd bin Abdullah pointed out that the Kingdom had welcomed Djibouti’s agreement which paved the way for the election of Sheikh Shareef Ahmad as a new President of Somalia
He noted that the Kingdom's humanitarian assistance to Somalia has exceeded 0 million.
"It is well-known that sea-lanes constitute the major transportation means for our exports and imports," he said, noting that 90 percent of the exports and imports come through the sea.
"This means that any threat to navigation will have an adverse impact on our economic security and our national security in general," he said noting that piracy against the commercial ships and oil tankers has remarkably increased recently in a manner that threatens our exports and imports.
"The Kingdom views piracy as a crime which undermines the global economy," he said, adding that several decisions were issued by the international Security Council calling for using the required measures for combating piracy.
Admiral Prince Fahd bin Abdullah called for confronting this phenomenon and exerting more efforts to preserve the security of the Arab region as well as for enhancing the authority of the Somalian government.
"These events take place within the territorial waters of the Arab countries, threatening the navigation lines," he pointed out.
Admiral Prince Fahd bin Abdullah said the meeting aims at promoting cooperation to ensure the safety of navigation in the Arab region as well as forging coordination with the friendly countries to combat the piracy phenomenon which endangers the Arab interests.
Source: Saudi ministry of foreign affairs
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