Facing threat to tourism and fishing industries, islands plan to build special courts and jail to combat growing piracy menace

The Seychelles, promoted by tourism brochures as an untouched paradise, is building special courts and a maximum security prison to combat the growing menace of Somali pirates.

Pirate sightings or attacks were reported almost daily near the islands late last year, including the kidnapping of the British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler.

Facing a threat to its two main industries, tourism and fishing, the Seychelles cabinet last week agreed tough new anti-piracy laws. It also plans to build a £320,000 jail by the end of this year that will be capable of holding up to 40 pirates. It will make the Seychelles, along with Kenya, the main centre for the prosecution and detention of pirates in east Africa.

The move follows international frustration last year when the Seychelles repatriated 22 Somalis, claiming it had insufficient evidence to bring piracy charges against them.

French ships are protected by navy marines, while their Spanish counterparts have hired private guards and requested mounted heavy armaments.

Joel Morgan, the environment, natural resources and transport minister, said that a major incident would be disastrous for the economy. "In late November you would have sightings of pirates or attempted chasing of vessels by pirate boats almost daily," he said.

"The pirates are getting better equipped, using better vessels, getting bolder and better organised. Now we see them commandeering bigger ships, like the dhows, and basically using these boats as attack ships with civilian crews under their control. They are venturing further afield, for example much further towards the Maldives, as part of the way they change their modus operandi."

Morgan, who leads the country's anti-piracy effort, said it was ready to become a regional hub with EU and UN help. "We are prepared to set up a court here with the help of our partners … to try these people and bring them to justice. But there must be one or more facilities in Somalia itself because we cannot take long-term liability for incarceration of huge numbers of pirates."

The new laws are to include conspiracy to commit piracy, meaning that suspects will no longer need to be caught in the act for a reasonable chance of prosecution.

The Seychelles is pressing charges against 11 Somalis for allegedly trying to attack one of its patrol boats last December. Major Simon Laurencine, commander of the Topaz, recalled: "There was something like red balls, lightning, in the night sky. There was submachine-gun fire as they came on to us. It was a very hostile situation and frightening because they could have hit one of my people."

The Topaz is one of only two boats patrolling 1.4m square miles of ocean, although the effort is supported by international patrols.

The Seychelles is an archipelago of more than 115 islands, only 10 of which are inhabited. Morgan admitted there was a "very real concern" that islands could be used by pirates as a base or staging post. "On three or four occasions, when we have assessed the threat to be real enough, we have positioned ground troops on these islands as a defensive and precautionary measure," he added.

Source: guardian.co.uk

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