NATO flotilla escorts first cargo ship to Somalia

BRUSSELS: NATO says one of its warships has successfully escorted a cargo ship to a port in Somalia in the first such mission since the alliance's flotilla arrived off the Somali coast.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Monday that the warship accompanied a vessel taking supplies to the UN peacekeeping mission in Somalia.

NATO's flotilla arrived in the region on the weekend. Its ships will be available to escort cargo vessels taking food aid to Somalia and to conduct general anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden.

Somalia, caught up in an Islamic insurgency, has not had a functioning government since 1991 and cannot guard its coastline.