Weak government offers US details of its pirates for aid
Somalia's prime minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke has offered to identify pirate leaders in exchange for aid, claiming they threaten his government, Associated Press reports.
"We have information on who is behind this, who is involved," Sharmarke said in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. "There is a lot of money flowing in ... we are following very closely how money is distributed here."
Sharmarke said the Somali government was presenting a plan to envoys from the European Union, the United States and a regional authority to fight pirates by building up military forces and establishing intelligence-gathering posts along its coastline.
"The best way to actually deal with this is to prevent (the pirates) from going into the waters," Sharmarke said. "We are planning to establish at least ten or more observation posts on the coastline."
AP said donors have been reluctant to fund a government with little accountability but the recent spike in piracy attacks may change that.
Somali pirates are holding more than 280 foreign crewmen captive on 15 ships - at least 76 of those sailors captured in recent days.
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