Pirates: We'll fight back

2008-11-22 11:27

Mogadishu - Somali pirates holding a huge oil-laden Saudi tanker on Saturday vowed to fight back should any assault be attempted to free the ship and urged its owners to pay up a $25m ransom.

As world powers rushed naval forces to Somalia's dangerous waters amid growing concerns of major disruptions in international trade, the pirates consolidated their land base with more men and weapons.

Speaking to AFP from the pirate lair of Harardhere, a member of the group holding the Sirius Star said there was no plan to destroy the super-tanker or harm its crew but warned any military bid to free it would be "disastrous".

"I hope the owner of the tanker is wise enough and won't allow any military option because that would be disastrous for everybody. We are here to defend the tanker if attacked," Abdiyare Moalim said.

"Their intention is clear, I was speaking to them some minutes ago and they told me they are not going to destroy the ship or harm the crew. They are hoping to get what they demanded," he said from Harardhere, north of Mogadishu.

Local residents told AFP that reinforcements of at least 10 well-armed men joined the pirates holding on the ship, which anchored off Harardhere with its 25 crew three days after being hijacked on November 15.

Heavily armed

"Early this morning, I saw at least 10 heavily armed pirates heading to the ship. Their boat returned after dropping them off," local fisherman Hassan Ahmed said.

Residents said clan militias and Islamist fighters had arrived in the village and its surroundings over the past two or three days.

The Islamist Shebab group which control much of Somalia has repeatedly stated it was fiercely opposed to piracy, which in Islamic law is a capital offense, and has vowed to root out pirates.

But an Islamist official in Harardhere told AFP the Shebab fighters in the region had no intention of attacking the pirate group and residents said that greed was the only explanation for the coastal hamlet's recent crowding.

The Sirius Star, the biggest ship ever hijacked, and its $100m load of oil was seized on November 15 and taken three days later to Harardhere, 300km north of lawless Somalia's capital Mogadishu.

The pirates on Thursday gave the owners 10 days to pay a $25m ransom, said a pirate who identified himself as Mohamed Said, threatening "disastrous" consequences if Vela International, shipping arm of the Saudi oil giant Saudi Aramco, failed to comply.

He did not specify the threatened action but the 330m long tanker is carrying two million barrels of crude oil.

- AFP