US Navy plays waiting game
2008-10-01 11:24
Mogadishu - The US Navy on Wednesday piled pressure on Somali pirates holding out for a 20 million dollar ransom for a Ukrainian cargo ship carrying tanks and other arms.
Warships from the US and other navies have blockaded the MV Faina in a pirate lair off Somalia's Indian Ocean coast.
The US Defence Department has suggested it could wait days for a Russian warship to arrive, before taking action, and has laid the emphasis on ensuring a "peaceful resolution".
The pirates, who seized the MV Faina with its 21-man crew and 33 Soviet-era T72 battle tanks last Thursday, say they are under 24-hour surveillance from the US ships and helicopters.
"We are prepared for any eventuality," warned pirate spokesperson, Sugule Ali, by satellite telephone from the ship.
Andrew Mwangura, who runs the Kenya chapter of the Seafarers Assistance Programme, said on Tuesday that three pirates were killed during a shootout after a disagreement on what to do with the ship.
Peaceful resolution
"The pirates are paranoid, the situation is very tense in the ship. That is why we are asking the naval ships to pull back and pave the way for negotiations," Mwangura told AFP.
But the pirates denied there had been any fighting or deaths. The pirate spokesperson called the claims "propaganda".
The Bahrain-based US Navy Fifth Fleet said several ships and helicopters were in the area to support the destroyer USS Howard as it observed its target, now docked at the Somali port village of Hobyo.
Abdikadir Musa Yusuf, deputy seaports minister for the Somali breakaway region of Puntland, said that "There are negotiations going on between the pirates and the foreign ships."
The Pentagon said it wanted a peaceful resolution and US warships were there to make sure pirates do not make off with its Russian military cargo.
"We clearly have a number of navy vessels, warships, if you will, in the vicinity, which have enormous capabilities on them," said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary.
"But at this point, what we are most concerned about is seeing a peaceful solution to this problem," he said.
Arms headed for Sudan
Morrell said it was expected to take several days for a Russian warship to arrive. Morrell said the US Navy was not negotiating with the pirates, and he did not know who was.
He said the main US concern was "that this cargo does not end up in the hands of anyone who would use it in a way that would be destabilising to the region".
There are 21 Ukrainians, Russians and Latvians in the crew. The ship's captain died of an illness on board, according to Russian media.
"We are sticking to the demand for $20m. This is not ransom, but a fine for unlawfully transporting weapons on Somali waters," Ali said.
The pirates said the arms were headed for Sudan. The Ukrainian owners of the freighter and Kenyan government said the tanks were destined for Kenya.
Piracy is rife in the region where Somalia's northeastern tip juts into the Indian Ocean. An organised pirate industry surveys spoils in the Gulf of Aden, a key maritime route leading to the Suez Canal through which an estimated 30 percent of the world's oil transits.