Incident: Red Sea and Gulf states to set up TF

Arabian Gulf and Red Sea states have agreed to set up an all-Arab anti-piracy naval task force according to Yemeni sources.

Delegates to a regional security conference in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, issued a joint statement saying the proposed task force was necessary to counter "the danger posed to their shipping, particularly vital oil and gas exports which pass via the Red Sea to the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean." According to the Al Ayum newspaper, the task force would comprise warships from Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. The Saudi navy will coordinate joint efforts for a period of one year, the paper said.

(ONI Worldwide Threat to Shipping, 7/8/09)