Neither NATO nor the European Union (EU) are considering blocking ports of Somalia to stop pirates from entering the sea, said officials yesterday.

Both NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and EU's foreign policy and security chief Javier Solana ruled out this option.

"Blocking ports is not contemplated by NATO," de Hoop Scheffer told reporters after a meeting of the alliance's North Atlantic Council and the EU's Political and Security Committee.

"The (relevant) UN Security Council resolutions, as they are, do not include these actions. As far as NATO is concerned, it is at the moment not in the cards," he added.

But the NATO chief did not rule out longer-term responsibilities for NATO on anti-piracy off Somalia. NATO currently has four warships in the Gulf of Aden to protect World Food Program food shipments to Somalia and also to protect commercial shipping. The EU will launch its own naval operation on Dec. 8, 2008.

Solana also ruled out port blockades, but said the EU operation will have robust rules of engagement and that force can be used.

Maritime groups yesterday called on the UN to launch an international operation to block ports along the Somali coast so that pirates can be stranded on land.

Rampant piracy off the Somali coast has posed a serious threat to merchant shipping. Although many countries have deployed warships to protect their interests, pirates, who have their land bases in Somalia, are having their way in the vast stretch of sea.

De Hoop Scheffer and Solana also condemned Sunday's shooting at a motorcade carrying the Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and his Polish counterpart, Lech Kaczynski, near the border between Georgia proper and the breakaway South Ossetia region. Georgia and Russia are blaming each other for this incident.

De Hoop Scheffer and Solana blamed the shooting itself and said they needed more information on it.

"When there is a shooting, from whatever part the shooting might have come, it is wrong. (It is) certainly not in the spirit of the agreements signed."

"I do not know any details. I cannot start blaming any one. I can start blaming those who are responsible," he said.

Solana echoed de Hoop Scheffer's words, adding that he will seek more information from EU observers deployed there.

Russia repelled a sudden attack on South Ossetia by Georigan forces in early August and later formally recognized South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia, as independent states. Russia has thousands of troops stationed in the two regions as peacekeepers.

On the Western Balkans, Solana said he hoped an EU rule of law mission will be deployed throughout Kosovo in early December. He said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, whom he met on Saturday, will submit a report on this issue to the UN Security Council soon.