A total of five assaults have been carried out near the Horn of Africa since November, Afrah said.
"The EU naval forces that would keep pirates at bay have left the area and the US naval forces are also busy with the Red Sea tension, causing the pirates to re-emerge and exploit the situation," he was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.
In December, Somali pirates hijacked a Malta-flagged vessel, taking its 18 crew members hostage, the report read. This was the first successful hijacking of a vessel since 2017, the news agency reported, citing the International Maritime Bureau.
Yemen's Ansar Allah movement, also known as the Houthis, vowed in November 2023 to attack any ships associated with Israel until it halts military actions in the Gaza Strip. This prompted the United States to announce the creation of a multinational operation to secure navigation in the Red Sea. Forces of the US and the United Kingdom later launched major strikes against Houthi positions in a bid to degrade the rebels' ability to target commercial vessels.
On Monday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that foreign ministers of the European Union had "agreed in principle" to launch a maritime security mission in the Red Sea, but the bloc had yet to agree on when and how it would be launched.