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UN warship targets pirates
26/02/2007 11:56 - (SA)
Nairobi - A US-led coalition warship was headed on Monday towards an area off northeastern Somalia where pirates are holding a ship that delivered UN food aid to the country, a UN spokesperson said on Monday.
"A coalition warship is reportedly moving into the area," UN World Food Programme spokesperson Stephanie Savariaud told AFP.
Djibouti hosts a US-led coalition command structure - the Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa - set up to combat terrorism in the region.
The food aid vessel, MV Rozen, was reported to be anchored off the small port of Bargal on the tip of the semi-autonomous Puntland region, Savariaud said.
There was no news of the ships's six Sri Lankan and six Kenyan crew members.
WFP was in contact with Somalia's interim government, Puntland authorities and the vessel's agents.
Armed pirates travelling in a speedboat hijacked the UN-chartered freighter on Sunday night after the ship delivered 1 800 tonnes of food aid to war-torn Somalia.
It was the first pirate attack off the Somali coast since the interim government, with Ethiopian military help, drove out powerful Islamists from southern Somalia late last year.
Waters off the unpatrolled 3 700km Somali coastline saw scores of pirate attacks between March 2005 and June last year.
The latest attack has stoked fears of a new surge in piracy, which almost disappeared during the six months of strict Islamist control of Mogadishu and the south.
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