Plea for more nations to take pirate suspects

Jack Lang's comments came amid concerns Kenya could be used as a dumping ground for the raiders who target ships for millions in ransoms.

Mr Lang, the UN secretary-general's special adviser on piracy law, said the country may want to renegotiate its agreements to take pirate suspects – Kenya currently has 136 pirates among its 53,000 prison inmates.

"We can't ask just a few countries like Kenya to detain pirates for many years after conviction."

Kenya said last month that agreements with Britain, the US and EU to prosecute suspected pirates had lapsed.

Kenya took nine suspected pirates from an American warship on Tuesday and four from a Spanish warship last week.

Mr Lang said one solution might be for pirates to be returned to Somalia to serve jail sentences.