EU to set up anti-Somalia pirates coordination

BRUSSELS, Sept 2 (Reuters) - The European Union is preparing a mechanism to help coordinate protection of vessels from Somalia piracy and is considering a more beefed up operation at a later stage, diplomats said on Tuesday.

Gunmen from Somalia have seized at least 30 vessels so far this year, making the waters off the Horn of Africa nation the most dangerous in the world.

"We are setting up a mechanism to coordinate assets in the area to ensure security and allow vessels to circulate," one EU diplomat said.

"That would allow us to know which vessels are there, to organise a relay, to plan," the diplomat said, adding that the French EU Presidency hoped this could be agreed on at a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Sept. 15 in Brussels.

Another diplomat said a number of details still needed to be worked out to finalise the coordination mechanism.

Both diplomats said this mechanism would aim in particular at ensuring that World Food Program aid gets through to Somalia. They also both said that the EU was considering a more substantial operation at a later stage.

Lawlessness onshore is spreading fast as Somalia collapses into the worst fighting for nearly two decades. The chaos is fuelling a wave of piracy that increasingly threatens vessels in the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's most important waterways.

Nearly 20,000 ships pass through the strategic channel each year, and the attacks are choking aid shipments to the country, worsening a crisis that aid workers say is the worst in Africa.

Somali pirates are demanding a ransom of $8.2 million to free two Malaysian tankers and a Japanese-managed bulk carrier that they hijacked in the Gulf of Aden, a maritime official said on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Ingrid Melander)