Somali pirates release UK-flagged chemical tanker

Somali pirates have released a British-flagged chemical tanker, hijacked last year, after a ransom was paid, the European Union naval force EUNAVFOR said.

“On the morning of May 13 a ransom drop was made to the pirate group holding the St. James Park at anchorage at Garacaad,” EUNAVFOR said in a statement late on Thursday.

It did not give the size of the ransom.

The 13,924 dwt tanker was en route to Thailand from Spain when it was seized by pirates on December 28. It has a crew of 26 — three Filipinos, three Russians, a Georgian, two Romanians, five Bulgarians, two Ukrainans, a Pole, six Indians and three Turks.

“She is now safely under way and EU NAVFOR is continuing to monitor the situation,” EUNAVFOR said.

Somali pirates have made tens of millions of dollars in ransoms off the coast of Somalia, and this has pushed up insurance premiums for shipping.

Some vessels have opted to take longer, more costly routes to avoid areas where pirates operate. But the pirates have also extended their area of operations, seizing ships hundreds of miles from the Somali coast.

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US Admiral: military ships can’t stop Somali piracy

Commercial ships traversing the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean should be armed to defendthemselves against marauding Somali pirates because international warships can’t do the whole job and won’t be there forever, a top U.S. Navy admiral said on Thursday.

Seaborne gangs of pirates have stepped up hijack attacks on vessels in recent months, making tens of millions of dollars in ransoms by seizing ships, including tankers, despite the presence of dozens of foreign naval vessels.

“We could put a World War Two fleet of ships out there and we still wouldn’t be able to cover the whole ocean,” said Admiral Mark Fitzgerald, commander of U.S. Naval Forces, Europe and Africa, citing attacks from the Gulf of Aden and the Mozambique Channel to off the coast of India.

Overwhelmed by the scope of the maritime problem, the United States has called for a greater international-led focus on going after the pirate money trail.

Underscoring the financial impact of piracy, Fitzgerald said he was told by Kenyan officials that prime real estate in Mombasa and Nairobi were being “bought up by rich Somalis” who lead clans which control piracy syndicates. He cited a similar investment trend in Ethiopian property.

“The U.S. can’t go this alone,” he said.

Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, Fitzgerald said it was “incumbent upon the vessels who are sailing the high seas to either protect themselves or accept the dangers.”

Asked if he would recommend that commercial ships arm themselves, Fitzgerald said: “I think they should.”

Some ships already have armed guards on board. Others are using protective devices to try to keep pirates at bay.

“Commercial ships should take appropriate protections … because we cannot offer 100 percent guarantees of protection as the ships go through,” Fitzgerald said, putting the onus on the maritime industry to decide “how seriously they want to take this on.”

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11 INDONESIAN SAILORS FREED 8 MONTHS AFTER CAPTURE BY SOMALI PIRATES

Eleven Indonesian sailors have been released by Somali pirates almost eight months after their ship was hijacked.

The crew of the Malaysian tugboat Masindra 7 were captured in mid-December as they sailed to Male, Maldives, an EU spokesman said.

A ransom was paid for the release, a Kenyan-based NGO, Ecoterra International, told AFP news agency.

Somali piracy attacks in the Gulf of Aden and the wider region have prompted many nations to send warships there.

A few dozen patrols – including from Russia, China, the US and Malaysia – are currently patrolling an area of about two million sq miles (five million sq km) off the Somali coast.

European Union naval spokesman Lt Cmdr Daniel Auwermann said the release of Masindra 7 came on Saturday.

The tugboat belongs to a Malaysian company, Masindra Shipping Pvt Ltd.

Many of the piracy attacks end with the payment of ransom.

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SHARIA TRIAL FOR SOMALI HOSTAGE

Two French security advisers seized in Somalia will be tried under Sharia law, an official from their captors, the Islamic al-Shabab militia, says. The unnamed spokesman said they would be tried for spying and “conspiracy against Islam”. The two, who were training government troops, were kidnapped by gunmen in a Mogadishu hotel on Tuesday and later handed over to al-Shabab insurgents.

Al-Shabab and its allies control much of southern Somalia. The al-Shabab official said no date had been set for the trial of the two men. They were on an official mission to train the forces of the interim government, which has recently appealed for foreign help to tackle Islamist insurgents.

Moderate Islamist President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was sworn in in January after UN-brokered peace talks. He promised to introduce Sharia law but the hardliners accuse him of being a western stooge. Somalia has not had a functioning national government since 1991.

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TWO FRENCH NATIONALS KIDNAPPED IN SOMALIA BY GUNMEN

Somali armed men stormed into a hotel in the capital Mogadishu on Tuesday and kidnapped two French security consultants working for the government, a hotel worker said. The two French men, whose names were not immediately available, were initially thought to be journalists. But a government official told Reuters that they had pretended to be reporters for their own protection.

“They were security consultants who arrived in Somalia to train state house security guards, not journalists,” said the official.

Several gunmen, some in uniform, entered the Sahafi Hotel threatened the hotel guards and took away the Frenchmen from their hotel rooms, the hotel manager, who declined to be named told Reuters.

“The two males told me they were journalists,” he added.

The hotel is popular with ministers in the government of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, and several live there and were in their rooms during the early morning raid.

A police officer who did not want to be named told Reuters that they had captured one of the three cars used by the gunmen.

“We have captured one of the cars,” he said, adding that he did not know where the French men had been taken.

Another witness said the gunmen, some of whom were dressed in uniform similar to that worn by Somali government troops, drove towards Mogadishu’s Bakara market, an Islamist stronghold, he added.

Hardline Islamist insurgents who are fighting the government control all but a few blocks of the capital. Fighting in Somalia since Ethiopian troops ousted the Islamic Courts Union in late 2006 has killed at least 18,000 and sent hundreds of thousands more fleeing from their homes.

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U.N CHIEF ACCUSES SOMALI REBELS OF WAR CRIME

The United Nations human rights chief said on Friday that Islamist insurgents in Somalia had executed civilians and set off bombs in residential areas, violations which she said may amount to war crimes. Navi Pillay, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, cited credible reports that rebels had also set up tribunals which have handed down death sentences by stoning and decapitation and also ordered amputations.

Civilians, especially women and children, are bearing the brunt of the latest violence in the lawless Horn of Africa country, she said, as government troops try to drive insurgents out of their bases in the capital Mogadishu. “Witnesses have told U.N. investigators that the so-called al Shabaab groups fighting to topple the transitional government have carried out extrajudicial executions, planted mines, bombs and other explosive devices in civilian areas and used civilians as human shields,” Pillay said in a statement.

“Fighters from both sides are reported to have used torture and fired mortars indiscriminately into areas populated or frequented by civilians,” she said. “Some of these acts might amount to war crimes”. Al Qaeda-linked fighters in al Shabaab control much of southern and central Somalia and all but a few blocks of the capital. Neighbouring countries and western governments fear if the Somali government is overthrown, the country will become a safe haven for al Qaeda training camps and militants will destabilise the region.

Pillay, a former U.N. war crimes prosecutor, said rights activists, aid workers, journalists and the displaced are especially vulnerable. Six journalists have been killed in Mogadishu this year, including four apparently assassinated, she said. There was also increasing evidence that “various forces” in Somalia are recruiting child soldiers, a serious violation of international human rights and humanitarian law, she said.

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AU MAY STRENGHTEN FORCE OVER CONTINEOUS FIGHTING IN SOMALIA

Heavy fighting in the Somali capital killed at least 20 people on Thursday, the second day of fierce clashes as government forces tried to drive hardline Islamists out of their Mogadishu bases. Al Qaeda-linked fighters in Somalia’s al Shabaab rebel group are battling to oust President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, himself a former Islamist insurgent who joined a peace process last year.

Al Shabaab and allied fighters control much of southern and central Somalia and have boxed the government and 4,300 African Union peacekeepers into a few blocks of Mogadishu. “The streets were horrific,” ambulance service official Ali Muse told Reuters. “We’ve transported 20 dead bodies and 55 injured in the latest fighting.”

Western nations and Somalia’s neighbours worry that if the rebels succeed in toppling Ahmed, the Horn of Africa nation will become a safe haven for al Qaeda training camps, and hardline Islamists will destabilise the region. At an African Union summit in Libya, AU leaders discussed beefing up their force and whether to give the troops a stronger mandate to take the fight to the rebels.

At present, the troops from Uganda and Burundi are largely confined to their bases and protect key sites such as the presidential palace, airport and seaport.

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KENYA PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR SOMALI’S FIGHT AGAINST ISLAMIST INSURGENTS

Kenya will not sit by and allow the situation in neighbouring Somalia to deteriorate further because it is a threat to regional stability, the country’s foreign minister said on Friday. Hardline Islamist insurgents stepped up an offensive against Somalia’s government last month and on Thursday killed the Horn of Africa country’s security minister and at least 30 other people in a suicide car bomb attack.

Kenya and other countries in the region, as well as Western nations, fear that if the chaos continues, groups with links to al Qaeda will become entrenched and threaten the stability of neighbouring countries. “We will not sit by and watch the situation in Somalia deteriorate beyond where it is. We have a duty … as a government to protect our strategic interests including our security,” said Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula.

“Kenya will do exactly that to ensure the unfolding developments in Somalia do not in any way undermine or affect our peace and security as a country,” he told a news conference. Asked about any specific action, Wetangula said an international partnership was dealing with the issue of the insurgency and instability in Somalia and it would be inappropriate to discuss details.

Al Shabaab insurgents, said to have hundreds of foreign fighters in their ranks, claimed responsibility for Thursday’s attack. The rebels control much of southern Somalia and some of the capital. They want to oust the government and impose a strict version of Islamic law throughout the country.

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SOMALI SUICIDE BOMB ATTACK ON THE INCREASE

Five more people have died of their injuries after a suicide attack on the Somali security minister, bringing the total number of dead to 35. Omar Hashi Aden was buried hours after the blast at a hotel in Beledweyne, north of the capital, Mogadishu. The funerals for some of the other victims, who included Somali diplomats, are being held on Friday. Mr Aden was an outspoken critic of al-Shabab, the militant Islamist group which said it carried out the attack. The group is accused of having links to al-Qaeda.

The security minister had recently moved to Beledweyne, some 400km (249 miles) north of Mogadishu, in an effort to stop Islamist insurgents gaining more ground in Somalia, says BBC East Africa correspondent Will Ross. The attack – by a suicide bomber who detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at the Medina Hotel on Thursday morning – has been widely condemned.

“This deplorable attack once again demonstrates that the extremists will stop at nothing in their desperate attempt to seize power from the legitimate government of Somalia by force,” a statement from the African Union, European Union, United Nations and the League of Arab States and regional body Igad said. “These extremists, both Somali and foreigners, failed in their recent attempted coup d’etat but are continuing their indiscriminate violence.”

Mogadishu itself is calm after nearly 30 people died in a day of heavy fighting on Wednesday. Both the government and insurgents deny targeting residential areas of the city. Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme the transitional federal government was still in control but urged the international community to help “before it is too late”.

The failed Horn of Africa state has not had an effective national government since 1991 and some four million people – one-third of the population – need food aid, aid agencies say. President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a moderate Islamist, took office in January but even his introduction of Sharia law to the strongly Muslim country has not appeased the guerrillas.

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U.S. NAVY HAND OVER 17 PIRATES TO KENYAN POLICE

The U.S. navy handed over 17 suspected Somali pirates to Kenya on Wednesday, taking the number of such captives in prisons along the east African country’s coast to 111. Kenyan police say the influx of suspected Somali pirates is clogging jails and congesting local courts and they would like foreign navies patrolling the shipping lanes off Somalia to start taking captives to other countries.

“We are looking at ways in the near future to have the pirates either charged in Seychelles, Egypt or Djibouti due to congestion,” Sebson Wandera, the provincial CID operations chief, told reporters in the port city of Mombasa. He said the latest arrivals would be taken to a court in Malindi, further up the coast from Mombasa towards Somalia, and if suspected pirates continued to flood into Kenya they may have to be taken to the capital Nairobi.

International navies trying to curb piracy off lawless Somalia are often reluctant to bring suspects to their own countries because they either lack the jurisdiction, or fear the pirates may seek asylum. The European Union, United States and some other countries have instead struck agreements with Kenya to leave suspects to face trial in east Africa’s biggest economy. Some pirates are being prosecuted in France and the Netherlands.

In Kenya, 10 pirates are serving a seven-year jail term at a prison in Voi, near Mombasa.

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