Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos spoke by telephone to Omar Abdirashid Ali Ibrahim to discuss the seizure of the Alakrana boat and its crew of 36, a government statement said.

"The number one authority in Somalia has committed himself to helping all the steps which the Spanish government is taking to liberate the Alakrana," it said.

The Spanish ambassador in Kenya has also spoken to Somalia's interior minister about the hijacking, it said.

The government of Somalia, where civil war has been going on for 18 years, controls only small pockets of the capital, Mogadishu.

The pirates hijacked the Alakrana in the Indian Ocean about 135 miles off the coast last week.

TERRORISM CHARGE

The Spanish navy on Sunday intercepted a skiff in which two suspected members of the pirate gang were trying to make their way ashore. They have been charged with terrorism and armed robbery.

On Monday, Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon ordered the two to be brought to Spain and kept in custody during the investigation into the hijacking.

In May, a Spanish court tried to bring a group of suspected Somali pirates to Spain for trial but eventually surrendered them to Kenya.

Many pirates escape prosecution and are set free because of doubts over the jurisdictions where they are captured or because Western governments fear they may try to claim asylum if transferred to their countries for trial.

Spain's Defence Minister Carme Chacon on Monday ruled out putting marines on board Spanish fishing boats to help protect them from pirate attacks, as France has done.

"Legally, of course, it is not possible, but operationally it isn't possible either," Chacon told Spanish state television.

"What is possible, and what is recognised by the private security law, is for private security guards to do that for private boats for their private protection."

Boats and ships could also use water cannon or electric fences to stop pirates boarding them, Chacon said.

Some shipping companies have called for the military to be used to protect their ships from pirates .

In July, France deployed 30 marines aboard its tuna fleet to fend off pirates.

Last year, crew members of a Spanish fishing boat were freed by pirates in the area after payment of a $1.2 million ransom, according to a Somali official.

Source: Reuters

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