by Daniel Ooko

    NAIROBI, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Andrew Mwangura, East African coordinator of the Seafarers Assistance Program (SAP) said on Friday in a phone interview with Xinhua that to curb the rampant piracy off the Somali coast, concerted and effective international efforts are needed.

    Mwangura was responding to the shocking number of ships captured off the Somali coast lines in recent weeks.

    "The recent seizure of vessels by the pirates who are holding over 200 seamen hostage is the worst in the world and the situation requires global attention," Mwangura said.

    The coordinator said the alarming increase in Somali pirate activity is being fueled by enormous ransoms being paid for the release of seized vessels and their crew members.

    According to Mwangura, on average, ship owners are paying more than 1 million U.S. dollars per vessel.

    Mwangura said the potential for riches through piracy has lured a legion of poor young men to join various pirate groups that have been operating in Somalia since the fall of the country 's last functioning government in 1991.

    "In the past five or six years, there were less than 100 pirates," says Mwangura. "But now, we have information that there are between 1,100 and 1,200 pirates."

    He said the time has come for a concerted and effective international effort, not only to protect shipping as a whole, but also to specifically protect UN aid vessels so that they arrive safely to be able to discharge their cargo that should then be policed until it reaches the needy.

    He said until the root cause of piracy is eliminated, curbing piracy will remain exceedingly difficult.

    Mwangura stated that intervention by the navies of a coalition of countries under the auspices of the United Nations has helped in isolated cases but it was by no means a long-term solution.

    "It is clear that the threat or presence of coalition navies has done little to stem the tide of attacks in this region," he added.

    Using increasingly sophisticated equipment, pirates have stepped up attacks on merchant vessels in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia

    The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Thursday that all the 26 seamen were Filipinos who were aboard a vessel hijacked off the coast of Somalia on Wednesday midnight.

    The latest incident brought the number of ships attacked to 55 by pirates off the coast of Somalia this year, most of which occurred in the Gulf of Aden.

    The Gulf of Aden, which connects the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, is one of the world's busiest waterways with some 20,000 ships passing through it each year.

    Pirates have stepped up attacks on merchant vessels in the Gulf of Aden, as Somalia's current transitional government has failed to shackle the pirates in the key commercial shipping lane.

    The International Maritime Bureau, an international maritime organization, has sounded the alarm over the upsurge of hijacking incidents on the Gulf of Aden and alerted all vessels to "maintain a strict 24-hour look out" as they pass through the gulf.