The UN Security Council passed a second resolution Tuesday urging countries with naval vessels deployed around the Horn of Africa to take whatever steps are necessary to stamp out piracy off the coast of Somalia.

The 15-member council passed a similar resolution in June, giving countries the right to actively combat a surge in ship hijackings.

The legally binding resolution, which the council adopted unanimously, "calls upon states interested in the security of maritime activities to take part actively in the fight against piracy on the high seas off the coast of Somalia, in particular by deploying naval vessels and military aircraft."

The measure was adopted under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which means its provisions can be enforced militarily.

The resolution, which has no time limit, only applies off Somalia, whose 3,000-kilometre coastline is the longest in Africa.

The resolution was prompted by last month's capture of the Ukrainian ship MV Faina with 33 T-72 tanks and other weapons aboard.

The ship's owners are continuing to negotiate with the pirates, who are demanding $20 million US for the release of the vessel and its 20-member crew.

Other pirate gangs are holding about a dozen ships with some 200 crewmembers close to the Somali coast.

Resolution needed to ensure food aid

Most pirate attacks occur in the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, but attacks have also been increasing in the Indian Ocean off eastern Somalia.

Combating the piracy is essential for the effective delivery of humanitarian aid to Somalia, said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

It is estimated that as many as 3.5 million people will be dependent on food aid by the end of 2008. About 90 per cent of that aid reaches Somalia by sea on World Food Program ships, Ban said.

"Navy vessels from the Netherlands, France, Denmark and Canada have been escorting our ships safely into the ports. Canada's tour of duty ends on Oct. 23. As yet, no nation has volunteered to take Canada's place," he said. "Without escorts, those ships will not arrive. Without that aid, more people will die."

But the French-drafted resolution drew sharp criticism from South African UN Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, who called it a stop-gap measure taken because a few major powers were unwilling to deal with the cause of the problem.

He said ship hijackings will continue until the Security Council sends UN peacekeepers to Somalia to restore stability, which it has been reluctant to do.

"It's just an excuse to sink a few boats," Kumalo said of the resolution.

Somalia, a nation of about eight million people, has not had a functioning government since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991 and then turned on each other.

Islamic militants with ties to al-Qaeda have been battling the shaky transitional government and its Ethiopian allies since their combined forces pushed the Islamists from the capital in December 2006.

With files from Reuters