Durban (PTI): Condemning the acts of piracy off Somalia coast, South Africa has said it would bring up the matter before the United Nations Security Council for discussions today.

The Chief Director in the Foreign Affairs Department in charge of UN Political Affairs, Xolisa Mabhongo, said piracy not only threatened international trade but was also contributing to instability in Somalia.

"It is our considered view that the acts of piracy in Somalia and the lawlessness currently prevailing there is a symptom of a bigger problem," Mabhongo said in a statement yesterday.

"With all our interventions in the UNSC and the rest of the international community, we are trying to move on the political front to help stabilise the situation in that region."

There was a need to focus on the root cause of the problem which centred on the country's politics, he said.

South Africa needed to see all parties showing a commitment to the agreed frameworks for the resolution of the problem, including the implementation of the Djibouti Peace Agreement, he added.

Mabhongo said South Africa has also noted the involvement, as a UN Special Envoy, of former President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo in the ongoing violence and displacement of refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

South Africa had also noted that various announcement and commitments have been made, including the agreement by the National Congress for the Defence of the People (NCDP) that they will renew the ceasefire and pull back to allow the mission, known by its French acronym MONUC to create a zone of separations within the area.