Maritime experts warned against the impact of piracy off the Somali and Yemeni coasts on the Suez Canal's future, particularly as the cases of ship hijacking has recently risen to 400 with more than 3000 people detained this year alone. During a meeting held two days ago by the Arab Society for Navigation in Alexandria to discuss maritime piracy and its effects on international maritime economy, these experts expressed fears that pirates may receive foreign financing with the aim of carrying out terrorist acts in the Arab states, which will adversely impact navigation in the region, particularly in the Suez Canal. Dr. Captain Rifa'at Rashad, deputy chairman of the international association of maritime navigation societies, believed pirates are backed by organized crime groups and rejected the principle of paying ransom to the pirates in exchange for releasing hijacked passengers and goods. He stressed that paying ransoms makes pirates stronger and allows them to seek stronger weapons. General Captain Hassan Al Tomy, adviser to the head of the sector of maritime transport, called for a particular inquiry into the issue of foreign financing to identify the countries and the flags raised on the hijacked ships in order to establish whether there is a plan to harm the Arab region or not. For his part, Engineer Ahmad Mustafa, advisor to the chairman of the Suez Canal Authority and director of the fees department of the Authority, said Suez Canal officials are facing this crisis by striking a balance between security and maritime searches, facilitating transit across the canal and ensuring the absence of any obstructions during the passage. He pointed out that the new passage fees for 2009 would be announced this month particularly for containers, passengers and oil ships. He added that the canal has not so far been affected by the current acts of piracy and that the rate of transit is on the rise, indicating that sixty ships passed across the canal in November. However, he expressed fears over the future impact on navigation in the canal unless governments and nations intervene to confront this imminent danger, saying that revenues from the Canal this year amount to $5,116 million. Meanwhile, Captain Mohammed Said Balba', maritime expert at the Centre of Research and Studies, called for political intervention and for solidarity among nations to solve the problem of civil war in Somalia. General Mahfouz Taha, a naval expert, said 26 naval units are present in the Gulf of Aden at the entrance of the Red Sea. These ships, which come from different countries, are there to combat piracy off the Somali coasts, but they do not include a single Arab Force. He called on Arab countries to send military forces to join this fight, to raise the Arab League's flag and to establish a strategic presence. He pointed out that the presence of all these forces does not only target pirates, but also aims to implement a special agenda as in the region. In a statement to Al-Masry Al-Youm, he described the effects of piracy on the Suez Canal as limited and said that the biggest effect on the Canal would be caused by the international economic crisis and the drop in oil prices, which he said would lead to a decline in shipping and, hence, in the number of sea trips.
