LONDON, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Kenya has canceled an agreement with the European Union to host trials of suspected Somali pirates, a Kenyan defense authority says.
A clause in the agreement with the European Union had allowed the deal to be canceled with six months' notice, which the Kenyan government has done, accusing the international community of failing to fulfill its side of the bargain, the BBC reported.
"Arresting, prosecuting and incarcerating pirates here exposes Kenya to these very serious security challenges," Adan Keynan, chairman of Kenya's Parliamentary Committee on Defense and Foreign Relations, said. "It's not in the interest of Kenyans to try Somali pirates here."
Warships belonging to the EU and others have been patrolling the sea off the East African coast in an effort to end pirate activity with the result of more than 100 Somalis being captured at sea, the BBC reported in its Saturday edition.
Dozens of suspected pirates were handed over to Kenyan authorities to face justice, but they now say their prisons are overcrowded and can ill afford more prisoners from Somalia.
The EU points out it has spent $3 million on Kenya's judicial system via the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, some of which was used to build a special court to host piracy trials.
