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Somalis urge action on pirate ship

Apr 07 2008

Somalis urge action on pirate ship

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Arab World

By Agencies

A French craft, Le Commandant Bouan, has been sent to trail the Le Ponant [AFP]
French and American army units have been urged to take tough action against a luxury French yacht whose crew has been held hostage by pirates since Friday.

Musa Ghelle Yusuf, the local governor in Somalia's breakaway northern region of Puntland, said he would be "happy...to see the pirates killed."

Guelleh said: "These pirates are terrorists and there is no need to negotiate with them. Attacking them will solve future piracy plans."

The yacht, Le Ponant, includes 30 crew members and lays anchored off Puntland, which has proclaimed autonomy from the rest of the country.

Civilians killed

The pirates attempted to come ashore on Sunday, but residents said gunmen working for the local authorities made it clear they were not welcome.

"The pirates opened fire, killing two men after local fighters told them to go away," Mohamed Ibrahim, a radio operator, said.

Ibrahim said the men onshore did not return fire.

French counter-terrorism and hostage rescue unit troops have been sent to Djibouti and are awaiting further orders.

Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, has not ruled out the payment of a ransom to secure the release of the crew, which include 22 French nationals and around 10 Ukrainians.

Herve Morin, the French defence minister, said that there could be no military intervention unless the safety of the crew could be guaranteed.

France said it had made radio contact with the ship on Sunday and that a frigate, Le Commandant Bouan, and a miltary plane had been sent to trail the yacht.

The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has called on the international community to boost security on the northern Somali coast where the yacht was seized, saying it has become increasingly dangerous.

Spate of attacks

The IMB's Malaysia-based Piracy Reporting Centre said it was possible the culprits were the same people responsible for a spate of recent attacks off the northern Somali coast.

Noel Choong, the centre's manager, said anti-piracy activities, including patrols by coalition warships, had suppressed incidents on Somalia's east coast, but pirates had now headed north to the Gulf of Aden.

"Definitely this year we have seen a shift from the east to the north... and that's a lot more dangerous because it's a main shipping route," he said.

"There are a lot of tankers carrying vulnerable cargo, and we are worried about an environmental disaster if there's any attack on chemical or crude oil tankers.

"The UN Security Council or someone must take some form of action to stop these pirates from attacking innocent seafarers," Choong said.

Somalia, which lies at the mouth of the Red Sea on a major trade route between Asia and Europe via the Suez Canal, has not had a functioning government since the 1991 ousting of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.