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Africa Horn
'No Kenya trial for Somali pirates'
2010-10-05
[Iran Press TV] Kenya has canceled an agreement with the European Union to host trials for suspected Somali pirates, the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs says.
Got too expensive, did it? And the world wasn't willing to pay the real cost of the service Kenya was providing?
In a Friday statement, the ministry said it wished to "acknowledge that the MoUs (Memoranda of Understanding) will effectively terminate on 30th September, 2010," Press TV reported.

The decision to stop handing over piracy suspects to the local authorities in Kenya was reportedly reached after it emerged that the country is already overwhelmed with ongoing cases against such suspects detained in its jails.

The western powers have been accused of reneging on promises to help the east African state deal with the buccaneers from war-torn Somalia.
So the answers are yes, and yes. Guys, this is very poor business relationship management. Once you anger the supplier, you lose access to the supply... at any price below outrageous, and not necessarily even then. And it's not like the Puntland courts can cover the shortfall.
Efforts by some western diplomats to save the accords have been futile, with the Kenyan government refusing to back down on the termination, according to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official, who asked to remain anonymous.

Kenya has signed deals with several major naval powers, including the US and European Union, in order to take on the cases of suspected pirates intercepted by multinational warships in the waters off the Horn of Africa.

More than a hundred suspected Somali pirates are currently languishing in Kenyan jails where some have been sentenced to long jail terms, while others await trials.

The Indian Ocean island of Seychelles recently signed a similar agreement with the European Union to hold suspected pirates, but lamented its lack of capacity to prosecute them.

The terminations comes as a court in the Kenyan port town of Mombasa Thursday sentenced 11 Somalis to five years apiece for attempting to hijack a Liberian-flagged ship last year.

The suspects were charged with attacking the MV Safmarine Asia in April 2009. An EU Navfor patrol ship thwarted the attack and seized the men, who were then handed over to Kenya.
Posted by:Fred

#6  A quick pop and a short flop. Fish food.
Posted by: mojo   2010-10-05 12:09  

#5   The bean counters didn't factor in what the long term cost will be with having to maintain a large navy deployment

Different accounts, Procopius2k. The ships have running costs anyway, and the sailors need to be trained ongoing. It wouldn't surprise me if that's how the project was originally sold.
Posted by: trailing wife   2010-10-05 09:42  

#4  We don't need no stinking, colonial european agreements. Pirates is us.

Posted by: Besoeker   2010-10-05 08:19  

#3   And the world wasn't willing to pay the real cost of the service Kenya was providing?

The bean counters must have been using the Medicare formula in making a determination of what they'll pay versus real costs. The bean counters didn't factor in what the long term cost will be with having to maintain a large navy deployment to keep playing the 'catch and release' program since there is no will to go to the ports and burn them out.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2010-10-05 08:15  

#2  See also WORLD NEWS > SOMALIA: PUNTLAND'S WAR AGZ AL-QAEDA IN THE GULF OF ADEN [AQGA].

AQ versus the Clans.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2010-10-05 02:45  

#1  Need the Kenyan equivalent of Judge Roy Bean.
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2010-10-05 01:31  

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