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Pirates demand $1m ransom
10/12/2007 08:24 - (SA)
Nairobi - Pirates holding a Japanese chemical tanker off the northeastern coast of Somalia are demanding a $1m ransom or they threaten to kill its crewmembers, says the United Nations.
The Golden Nori, carrying tens of thousands of tons of inflammable benzene, was hijacked on October 28 along with 23 crewmembers from Myanmar, the Philippines and South Korea.
"The pirates are asking for $1m as ransom, whilst Puntland authorities are asking the pirates to surrender peacefully to the Puntland coast," said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in a statement.
The pirates "are threatening to kill them if ransom is not paid," the statement said.
Authorities in Puntland, a Somali semi-autonomous region, who were negotiating with the pirates had sent militia to Bosaso harbour, a few nautical miles from where the vessel was held.
Cargo vessel released
Meanwhile, two United States Navy ships were blocking supplies to the tanker, which was sailing from Singapore to Israel after it was hijacked, in a bid to force the pirates to abandon the vessel.
The Golden Nori was the last vessel remaining under pirates' control off the Somali coastline after the Comoran-flagged cargo MV Al Marjan was released a fortnight ago.
A US-led multilateral taskforce was conducting counter-piracy operations off the volatile Horn of Africa.
Rampant piracy off Somalia stopped briefly during the strict rule of an Islamist movement in the second half of 2006, but resumed after Ethiopian and Somali government troops ousted the Islamists at the end of 2006.
Numerous attacks had occurred this year off Somalia's 3 700km coastline, prompting the International Maritime Bureau to advise sailors to steer clear.
Somalia lied at the mouth of the Red Sea on a major trade route between Asia and Europe via the Suez canal. It had not had a functional government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
- AFP
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