7-Year Low Reported in Piracy Off Somalia

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/24/world/africa/7-year-low-reported-in-piracy-off-somalia.html

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Piracy off the coast of Somalia, once regarded the most dangerous sea passage, has dropped to the lowest level in seven years, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations said in a report submitted Wednesday to the Security Council.

Mr. Ban attributed the decline to increased international policing and information-sharing, more prosecutions and imprisonment of captured pirates, and greater security steps by commercial shippers, including the use of armed guards. He said 17 pirate attacks were reported in the first nine months of 2013, compared with 99 in the same period a year earlier.

Nonetheless, he said in the report, “ships still do not enjoy a peaceful transit off the coast of Somalia.”