Pirates capture 2nd vessel

2005-09-25 22:02

Mogadishu - Pirates who have held a UN-chartered ship and its crew hostage for nearly three months have captured a second vessel carrying cement from Egypt, days after the collapse of efforts to release the first merchant ship and its load of food aid.

The pirates hijacked the second vessel while it was sailing from El Maan, a port north of Somalia's capital of Mogadishu.

Local authorities expelled the Somali hijackers from the port on Thursday after they raised fresh ransom demands and refused to meet the deadline to release the ship, its crew and cargo.

"The hijackers contacted us only this morning, telling us that the ship ... was under their control," said Abdi Rahman Kariin Olow, a Mogadishu-based businessman who owns part of the cement shipment.

"The hijackers let us speak with the captain of the vessel who also confirmed they had been taken hostages," he said.

Olow could not immediately name the number and nationalities of the crew.

The two vessels have now weighed anchor off the coast of Harardhere, central Somalia, residents said by telephone.

The UN-chartered 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 at first kept it near Harardhere. They arrived at El Maan last weekend.

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.

On Tuesday, warlords controlling El Maan struck a second deal guaranteeing the safety of the pirates once they released the ship.

The deals unraveled after the pirates, estimated to number dozens, raised fresh ransom demands. The second ship was hijacked as the vessel sailed from El Maan.

Somalia has not had an effective central government since clan-based warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. Warlords then turned on each other, plunging the country of seven million into chaos.

A transitional government formed after lengthy peace talks in Kenya raised some hope, but its members have been fighting among themselves in recent months.

- SAPA