U.N. council breaks deadlock on Somalia piracy

The U.N. Security Council adopted unanimously on Monday a long-delayed resolution giving countries the right to combat rampant piracy off the coast of Somalia.

Security Council members on a flight from Nairobi to Djibouti told reporters agreement was reached on Friday after France agreed to Indonesia's demands that anti-piracy actions undertaken off the coast of Somalia would not set a precedent for any other country.

Envoys of the 15-nation Security Council are on a mission to Africa and met in Djibouti with members of Somalia's transitional government and opposition.

"Our concerns have been taken on board," Indonesia's ambassador to the United Nations, Marty Natalegawa, told reporters.

The resolution, the first draft of which was circulated in April, is aimed at combating a surge in ship hijackings for ransom off the coast of Somalia in waters that have become one of the world's most dangerous shipping zones.

Just last week, pirates hijacked three ships in the area.

"The issue of piracy is beyond our present means and capabilities," Somalia's President Abdullahi Yusuf said in a speech he gave to the council envoys in Djibouti prior to the vote in New York.

The French had "wanted to highlight the scourge of piracy as a global problem," U.S. envoy Alejandro Wolff told reporters.

Council diplomats said the French backed down after facing resistance from the Indonesians, who refused to allow the possibility that anti-piracy actions by foreign marine or security forces could take place in their coastal waters.

The resolution affirmed that authorization for action "applies only with respect to the situation in Somalia," and should "not be considered as establishing customary international law..."

Somalia has been without an effective central government since the 1991 toppling of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

Kidnapping and piracy are lucrative businesses and most Somalis treat their captives well in anticipation of a ransom.

Monday's resolution authorizes states to enter Somali territorial waters and use "all necessary means to repress acts of piracy and armed robbery."

It was originally sponsored by France, the United States, Britain and Panama, under whose flag many merchant ships sail. Twelve other concerned countries that are not on the council later signed on as co-sponsors of the resolution, including Japan, South Korea and Spain.