By David Brunnstrom DEAUVILLE, France, Oct 2 (Reuters) - EU states are aiming for quick deployment of an air and naval force to help the international effort to combat piracy threatening sea lanes off the coast of Africa, officials said on Thursday. France said on Wednesday at least 10 EU countries were willing to take part in a joint air and sea operation against piracy off the coast of Somalia in cooperation with NATO, and that it hoped the plan could be finalised next month. French Defence Minister Herve Morin said after talks among EU defence ministers in Deauville, France, that the countries included France, Spain, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Cyprus, Belgium, Sweden and probably Britain. German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung said EU states planned to deploy three frigates, a supply ship and three surveillance ships. He said Germany planned to send a frigate. "The aim is to go quickly," French Defence Ministry spokesman Laurent Teisseire said when asked how long the deployment would take. British Defence Minister Des Browne said that as the world's biggest trading grouping, protecting the EU's security and way of life depended on being able to secure global trade routes. "It's not just inside the EU or on the borders of the European Union, it's off the coast of Somalia and Kenya, it's more broadly, it's ensuring that oil that travels around this world travels around it securely," he said. He said the EU had to work closely with the United States, "the country that consistently makes the most contribution to the security of this world and its maritime shipping". EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told reporters a majority of the 27 EU states backed having such a mission coordinated under EU auspices, and the bloc was ready to answer a U.N. call for help to protect humanitarian aid shipments. Spain already has a military plane in the region and France a naval ship. Spanish Defence Minister Carme Chacon said it was vital to coordinate action. "We cannot have a sea where pirates operate with impunity," she told Reuters. Heavily armed Somali pirates have hijacked more than 30 vessels off the coast of Somalia this year, making its waters the most dangerous in the world. Global shipping groups have called on naval powers to do more to stop piracy. The U.S. Navy said last month that allied warships in an international force in the region had stopped 12 attacks since May and were doing all they could. The sealane in the Arabian Sea between Yemen and Somalia links Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal and is critical to Gulf oil shipments. Somali pirates are now holding 13 vessels captive with more than 200 sailors. The shipping groups said continued inaction risked a repetition of the early 1970s crisis when the Suez Canal was closed and shipping diverted round the Cape of Good Hope. Somali pirates are currently demanding $20 million to free 20 crew members and cargo of 33 tanks, grenade-launchers and other weapons aboard a Ukrainian ship hijacked last week. (Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
Ethiopian refuge-seekers rest on a roadside near the southern Yemeni village of al-Khabar after they arrived on a smugglers' boat from Somalia September 29, 2008. At least 52 Somalis died off ...
