From: Yemane Natnael (yemane_natnael@yahoo.com)
Date: Sat Sep 27 2008 - 10:55:27 EDT
Somali pirates demand $35m for 'tank' ship: official
Sept 27, 2008
MOGADISHU (AFP) — Somali pirates have demanded a 35-million-dollar
(24-million-euro) ransom for the release of a Ukrainian freighter
carrying a shipment of tanks and grenade launchers, a regional maritime
official said Saturday.
The MV Faina was seized on Thursday with
a crew of 21 people on board as it neared the Kenyan port of Mombasa
with a cargo of T-72 battle tanks, grenade launchers and ammunition
destined for Kenya's military.
"They are demanding 35 million
dollars for the ransom, but I think it is the start of the
negotiation," said Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the East Africa
Seafarers Assistance Program.
Piracy is rife off the coasts of
war-torn Somalia but this incident has threatened to make it a more
global security problem with Russia now sending a warship to rescue the
stricken vessel -- three of whose crew are Russian.
An official
from the semi-autonomous northeastern region of Puntland said the
freighter was headed Saturday for pirate strongholds in central Somalia.
"The
pirates are heading towards Hobyo and Haradere and it seems that they
are looking for chances to unload any light military supplies on board
the ship," said Bile Mohamoud Qabowsade, an advisor to the Puntland
presidency.
In a sign of the scale of the problem, Somali pirates
holding more than a dozen merchant ships hostage released a Japanese
vessel Saturday for a ransom of two million dollars, a local official
said.
Egypt's MENA news agency also reported that pirates had
released an Egyptian ship with 25 crew on board which was hijacked
earlier this month off Puntland.
Qabowsade said he had received
reports that the pirates who seized the tank-laden Ukrainian freighter
were preparing for a battle.
"We are getting information that the
pirates are getting ready" to respond if attacked, he said. "They
deployed more armed men into the waters."
The Russian navy has
sent the frigate Neustrashimy (Fearless) to the region in response to
what it said was a "rise in pirate attacks, including against Russian
citizens."
Haradhere, about 410 kilometres (255 miles) north of
Mogadishu, and Hobyo, about 120 kilometres further north, are in an
area controlled by Islamists who launched an insurgency against the
Somali government in early 2007.
Residents of Haradhere interviewed by AFP said boats of pirates were seen early Saturday heading for Hobyo.
"I
saw heavily armed pirates on board several speedboats heading towards
Hobyo where the hijacked ship is believed to be coming," said local
fisherman Adan Nile.
Meanwhile, a maritime watchdog reported that
a Greek chemical tanker with 19 crew on board had become the latest
vessel to be hijacked by Somali pirates in the notoriously dangerous
Gulf of Aden.
Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime
Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur said the tanker was
hijacked on Friday while it was on its way to the Middle East from
Europe.
The coastal waters off Somalia, which has not had an
effective central government for more than 17 years and is plagued by
insecurity, are considered to be among the most dangerous waterways for
shipping in the world.
Last year more than 25 ships were seized
by pirates in Somali coastal waters despite US navy patrols, according
to the International Maritime Bureau.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gTuJ13nNTvfo1-p5RZbosMfOfKgA
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