International funding for Somalia's new government and African Union peacekeepers is vital to help stabilize the lawless nation and stop persistent pirate attacks against maritime shipping, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday, AP reported. «The situation continues to be very difficult, but with this financial help ... I sincerely hope we will be able to control the situation there,» Ban said at a joint news conference with Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Union's executive European Commission. They met before the opening of a U.N.-sponsored international donors' conference in Brussels which aims to raise at least ¤128 million ($166 million) to finance the African peacekeepers and Somalia's fledgling police and security forces. «Both President Barroso and I agreed that restoring security and stability in Somalia is vital to the success of the reconciliation effort and the survival of the unity government,» Ban said. In the past year, pirates have hijacked and attacked dozens of ships in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, a key shipping lane linking Asia via the Suez Canal to Europe.
