Convention to beat terrorism at sea

Press, 23 March 1988, Page 46

Convention to beat terrorism at sea

NZPA-ReLter Rome { Seventy{-six nations, including War combatj ants Iran[ and Iraq, have | agreed on a convention to ! combat terrorism at sea and piraqy, officials said recently at the end of an international maritime conference. Mr (Chandrika Srivastava, the secretary of the International • Maritime Organisation (IMO), said the convention was approved |; unanimously, along iwith a protocol to [guarantee the security of i oil rigs arid maritime platj {forms, i L : IMO{ officials said I neither of the two docu- [ nients [covered acts of war! 11 between .States. Shipping ; and oil Irigsi have both been j attacked during the seven-and-a-half-vear-M'l ' j <

old Gulf war. Twenty of the countries attending the I conference signed the [two documents at a cereriiony in Rome, and the other States were expected) to sign during the | coming months, officials sa'id. The documents bind the signatories) to punish crimes against shipping. States also; agreed on the urgent need for international ' co-operation to introduce I measures to prevent I crimes against maritime safety. The Italian Foreign Minister,; [Mr Giulio Andreotti, said the unanimity of the agreement was all the more significant because it hs d been reached by countries from all over the world including the Soviet Union, Israel, Libya and other'lslamic States. Ii M