Bulgaria Ready to Send 'Intrepid' Frigate to Tackle Somali Pirates

Rear Admiral Manushev has declared the readiness of a Bulgarian frigate to take part in operations against Somali pirates. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria’s frigate “Drazki” (i e “Intrepid”) could participate in operations against Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden.

This has been stated Monday in Varna by Rear Admiral Plamen Manushev, Chief of Staff of the Bulgarian Navy as cited by BGNES. His statement comes days after two UK ships – St. James Park and Asian Glory – were hijacked by Somali pirates with a total of 13 Bulgarian sailors on board.

According to Rear Admiral Manushev, the Bulgarian frigate, which was recently acquired from Belgium, is completely ready to participate in naval operations off the coast of Somalia.

The only issue is the financing of the operations since the participation of Drazki would cost about BGN 2-3 M, and maybe up to BGN 6 M for a two-month period depending on what missions it would be required to accomplish.

Manushev said the question about the arming of commercial ships was a hard one since there was no uniform international position on that. He believes that the best way to tackle the Somali pirates issues is organizing international convoys guarded by naval vessels.

One more difficulty, in his view, is the fact that the international community defends the human rights of the pirates.

“Hanging of captured pirates is in the past, plus in this region it is very hard to distinguish regular fishing boats from those of pirates,” Manushev is quoted as saying.

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