The Dutch parliament has approved the deployment of Dutch troops on board Dutch merchant ships in order to protect them from piracy in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean. A number of Dutch ships have been hijacked by Somali pirates over the last several years, prompting the Netherlands to consider armed troops aboard merchant vessels. During the parliamentary decision process, the Socialist Party was the only one to vote against the measure, saying that were was not enough clarification regarding the mission, Radio Netherlands World reports.
