A Ukrainian ship carrying arms and tanks that has been held by Somali pirates for almost five months has been released, Ukrainian officials said today.
The MV Faina, which was seized off the coast of Somalia on 23 September, is understood to have been released after a ransom was paid.
A brief statement by the office of President Viktor Yushchenko made no reference to any payment, saying the ship and its 20-man crew had been freed as the result of an operation involving special services agents from Ukraine.
However, a negotiator, who asked not to be named, told Reuters the pirates had received a ransom payment of $3.2m (£2.2m). "The last group of pirates has got down now and MV Faina is released," he said, speaking from the Somali port of Harardhere.
Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers Assistance Programme, a Kenyan-based piracy monitoring group, said earlier that about 100 gunmen had been aboard the vessel checking the ransom payment.
The MV Faina's cargo, which includes grenade launchers and 33 Russian-made tanks, had provoked international concern.
Although Ukraine insisted the hardware had been sold to Kenya "in accordance with international law", some foreign diplomats claimed the weapons were really bound for south Sudan. The Kenyan government later issued a statement confirming that it had purchased the cargo aboard the MV Faina for its military forces.
The pirates had initially demanded $35m but the ransom was whittled back over months. During the standoff, six American warships surrounded the seized vessel to ensure the weapons were not taken elsewhere in the volatile region.
There are believed to be a handful of pirate gangs of several hundred members, each operating speed boats up to 500 miles from the Somali coast.
The MV Faina was one of 42 ships seized by Somali pirates last year, forcing some shipping lines to reroute vessels that would have used the Suez canal to take much longer trips around Africa and others to put armed guards on board.
Foreign governments responded by deploying more than 20 warships from more than a dozen countries – including Russia, China, France and India – to patrol sea lanes in the Gulf of Aden and parts of the Indian Ocean through which about 16,000 ships pass each year. So far three ships have been seized this year and pirates were driven off in 14 cases. Scores of pirates have been arrested.
Last month, pirates extracted millions of dollars for the release of a Saudi supertanker, the Sirius Star, hijacked 450 miles out to sea in November carrying about $100m worth of oil. Three of the pirates drowned after their boat capsized as they headed to shore with their cut of the ransom
No comments:
Post a Comment