http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/...tionBloc k202

(CBS/AP) On the same day Somali gunmen seized two more ships, the U.N.
Security Council voted unanimously Tuesday to authorize nations to
conduct land and air attacks on pirate bases on the coast of the Horn of
Africa country.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was on hand to push through the
resolution, one of President George W. Bush's last major foreign policy
initiatives.

“The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to fight pirates off the
Somalia coast, and on shore, if the government in Somalia gives its
approval,” said CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk. “U.N.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon suggested the establishment of a U.N.
peacekeeping mission at a time when conditions are favorable.”

"Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced the creation of a Contact
Group to share intelligence, and urged the U.N. to create a peacekeeping
mission,” Falk reported from U.N. headquarters, "and Russian Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov said piracy is just the tip of the iceberg of
lawlessness in coastal waters off Somalia, and must be addressed within
a comprehensive political settlement."

Rice said the resolution will have a significant impact, especially
since "pirates are adapting to the naval presence in the Gulf of Aden by
traveling further" into sea lanes not guarded by warships sent by the
U.S. and other countries.

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"What we do or do not do in cases of hot pursuit we'll have to see, and
you'll have to take it case by case," she said. "I would not be here
seeking authorization to go ashore if the United States government,
perhaps most importantly, the president of the United States, were not
behind this resolution."

Spurred by widespread poverty in their homeland, which hasn't had a
functioning government for nearly two decades, Somali pirates are
evading an international naval flotilla to intercept huge tankers,
freighters and other ships to hold for ransom. A tugboat operated by the
French oil company Total and a Turkish cargo ship became the latest
victims Tuesday.