The UN World Food Programme welcomed Tuesday an EU initiative to help combat piracy off the cost of Somalia, but appealed for a naval escort to help get aid to the strife-torn Horn of Africa country.

On Monday, European Union foreign ministers had agreed to set up a "coordination unit" to help tackle the growing problem but they are only mulling whether to set up naval mission in future.

"I am very happy with this initiative, it is a first good step to maybe do something more structural about the piracy issue," Peter Goossens, the WFP's Somalia country director, told AFP during a trip to Brussels.

But he warned: "I don't think it will have an immediate impact, it is a coordination mechanism more than anything else, and my immediate problem is that in 10 days I am going to be again without escort."

Canada is currently providing naval escort for WFP food aid being shipped into Somalia, but the Canadian navy's mandate ends next week, and no other country has stepped forward to fill in the gap.

Making matters worse, Somalis lived off their UN food reserves during the last changeover, when there was a six-week hole between the Dutch navy finishing its escort duties and Canada taking over.

"Even if one country tomorrow would say OK we will do it, it takes time for them to get ships there, so I'm afraid I'm going to see an interruption in the escorts again," said Goossens.

The UN agency had not been able to build up any significant reserves in country stocks, he warned. "So, if we have another gap, the effects are going to be felt immediately by the population."

The WFP ships 30,000-35,000 tonnes of aid into Somalia each month.

Conflict, drought and rising food prices are threatening an unprecedented humanitarian disaster in the troubled Horn of Africa country.

Pirate attacks on ships bringing food aid and supplies by sea have further complicated relief deliveries.

Dozens of ships, mainly merchant vessels, have been seized by pirates off Somalia's 3,700 kilometres (2,300 miles) of largely unpatrolled coastline.

The pirates operate high-powered speedboats and are heavily armed, sometimes holding ships for weeks until they are released for large ransoms paid by governments or owners.

The WFP appeal came Tuesday as French commandos freed a couple seized by pirates off Somalia in the second mission this year, leading President Nicolas Sarkozy to call for an international crackdown on sea raiders.