Warlords promise pirates safety

2005-09-21 20:32

Mogadishu - Warlords have agreed to guarantee the safety of pirates who hijacked a ship carrying United Nations food aid in a deal intended to ensure the release of the vessel and its crew, a negotiator said on Wednesday.

The Somali pirates had demanded assurances that they would not be attacked by militias loyal to the warlords once they release the MV Semlow, a UN-chartered cargo ship that the hijackers let dock earlier this week at Elmaan, north of Mogadishu, said Habiibo Mo'alin Iise, who was involved in the negotiations.

The agreement was reached on Tuesday during talks between the pirates and representatives of the warlords and the transitional government, said UN officials.

The pirates will leave the ship after its cargo of donated rice was handed over to trucks owned by the warlords to be taken to central Somalia, where the transitional government will distribute it to residents under the supervision of the hijackers' allies, Iise said.

No information yet

"We are waiting to see any movement. So far, we have no information that any cargo has been discharged," said Robin Lodge, a spokesperson for the UN's World Food Programme (WFP).

The ship was carrying 937 tons of rice donated by Japan and Germany for 28 000 Somalis who had been affected by the Asian tsunami, whose force was powerful enough to inundate parts of this Horn of African nation.

The gunmen boarded the MV Semlow, registered in St Vincent and the Grenadines, on June 27 and had kept it near the central town of Haradheere before sailing with it to Elmaan.

In August, the WFP said an agreement had been reached to release the ship, its 10-member crew from Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Kenya and the cargo, but the hijackers then reportedly disagreed over whether to see through the release without demanding a ransom.

The WFP suspended shipments to Somalia on July 4 in response to the hijacking, but resumed them in August.

Piracy along the Somalia coast is common - several ships a month are attacked or hijacked, with valuables stolen and crews held for ransom. This is the first time the UN has reported a ship hijacked by Somali pirates.

Another group of Somali gunmen have been holding 48 Asian fishermen and three vessels near the southern Somali port of Kismayo since August 15.

- AP