By Abdi Sheikh
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Fed up with rampant piracy plaguingtheir Horn of Africa country, Somalis cheered on Thursday theFrench troops who captured six pirates.
The men, part of a group that stormed a French luxury yachtand held its 30 crew hostage for a week, were flown to Franceon Wednesday and are being questioned over the April 4 attack.
"Pirates are terrorists and should be dealt withaccordingly," Sheikh Osman Alasow, a Koranic teacher, toldReuters in the humid, coastal capital Mogadishu.
"It would be good if the French commandos punish and forcetheir captives to reveal the names and whereabouts of otherpirates hiding in Somalia," he added.
French officials said last week France had the right toprosecute the pirates. An initial investigation opened onMonday into "boat hijacking, kidnapping and confinement in anorganised gang with ransom payment" which carries a maximumlife sentence.
Somalia's waters have become among the world's mostperilous, despite calls for international action to patrol theshipping lanes.
Struggling to end an Islamist-led insurgency and assert itsauthority, the government has appealed for help to finance andtrain its own coast guard to protect waters plied by thousandsof merchant ships sailing to the Cape of Good Hope every year.
"France has done a great job and it would be wise if otherpowerful countries would follow suit," said Adow Hussein, a60-year-old khat dealer.
"But the problem is some foreign countries ... encouragepiracy by directly or indirectly by paying ransom."
Somali pirates often justify their actions as measuresagainst illegal fishing and toxic dumping but with more than 30attacks in 2007 alone -- many for ransom -- it is proving to bea lucrative trade.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars are believed to have beenpaid to pirates in recent months in exchange for the safereturn of vessels and their crew.
However, housewife Halima Abdi defended the pirates sayingthey were protecting the coastline from dumping.
"They have hijacked ships, yes, but they have not made anytrouble inside foreign countries. To imprison them would be anexcuse for depriving us of our natural resources," she added.
(Additional reporting by Abdi Mohamed; Writing by KatieNguyen; Editing by Mary Gabriel)
(For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say onthe top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/ )