Following increasing threats from activities of pirates and attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Kenyan has partnered with the European Union to help tackle the menace of maritime crime in the region.

VOA reports that the EU, whose force operates in the Indian Ocean, is worried that the insecurity which is also affecting ship traffic in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, is disrupting international trade.

Kenya, therefore, agreed to help deal with maritime crime suspects in the region, as threats to shipping intensifies in the Indian Ocean, Gulf of Aden, and the Red Sea, after the EU asked Kenya to assist in prosecuting suspects nabbed in the region’s waters.

Confirming the agreement, the EU ambassador to Kenya, Henriette Geiger, said, “Kenya would conclude a legal finished agreement with the European Union which would allow the EU Atalanta to drop seized arms, weapons but also traffickers, arms and drug traffickers, here for prosecution.”

“Seychelles has already agreed, they already have a legal finished agreement, but it’s a small island; they cannot stand alone,” she added.

According to Mrs Geiger, the EU navy force doesn’t have the authority to prosecute suspects and can’t detain them for long without charges, hence the need for countries like Kenya to assist in prosecuting the suspects.

Kenya’s head of department for shipping and maritime affairs, Isaiah Nakoru, expressed his country’s readiness to improve security and the free flow of goods and people.

“We have to work together to ensure that we achieve the aspiration for ensuring there is sustainability and security, and all activities that threaten the livelihoods of people and movements of people have to be addressed in partnership with all those who have a stake,” he noted.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Kenya, has convicted 18 suspected pirates and has at least 120 of them in detention.