Saudi Arabia will take the initial lead in an all-Arab force to stop piracy in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and Arabian/Persian Gulf, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reports. Saudi Gazette covers the issue with the story below. I don’t know how much substantive support Yemen and Sudan might provide—port facilities perhaps?—but the other countries do have navies that should be adequate to the job.

I think it right that the Arab states whose waters are most threatened by piracy shoulder responsibility for policing those waters. The Saudi government will serve as the communication point between this force and the 40-nation international force already patrolling the region.

Arabs plan anti-piracy joint force

RIYADH – Arab states of the Gulf and Red Sea said Monday that they are planning a joint anti-piracy force, insisting defense of the crucial Red Sea waterway was the “primary responsibility” of littoral states.

Saying it was necessary to prevent the spread of piracy to the Red Sea or the Gulf, 11 regional states agreed to set up an all-Arab Navy Task Force, to be led at the outset by the Saudis, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The delegates to the conference in the Saudi capital stressed the “importance of the exclusion of the Red Sea from any international arrangements, especially the fight against sea piracy.”
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Arab News runs essentially the same story, but notes Saudi concerns about oil, shipping, and desalination facilities along the coastlines.

Arab states plan anti-piracy force