More Pirates

Date: 4/10/2009

Link: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090410/D97FIQ001.html

Source: AP News

Main Points:

       
       
1.      Escalating a dramatic Indian Ocean standoff, more U.S. warships - as well as pirate reinforcements with an international gallery of hostages - rushed Friday toward the spot where four Somali bandits are holding a U.S. sea captain aboard a drifting lifeboat.

2.      The pirates apparently fear being shot or arrested if they hand over Capt. Richard Phillips - captured in a failed effort to seize the Maersk Alabama on Wednesday - and hope to link up with their colleagues who are using Russian, German, Filipino and other hostages captured in recent days as human shields.

3.      Pirates have been holding Phillips hostage aboard the lifeboat since his crew thwarted the attack Wednesday on the 17,000-ton U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama.

4.      Mohamed Samaw, a Somali resident of the pirate stronghold in central Eyl town, who claims to have a "share" in a British-owned ship hijacked Monday, said four foreign ships previously captured by pirates are heading toward the lifeboat. A total of 54 hostages are on two of the ships, citizens of China, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, the Philippines, Tuvalu, Indonesia and Taiwan.

5.      "The pirates have summoned assistance - skiffs and mother ships are heading towards the area from the coast," said a Nairobi-based diplomat, who spoke on condition on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media. "We knew they were gathering yesterday."

6.      Samaw said two ships left Eyl on Wednesday afternoon. A third sailed from Haradhere, another pirate base in central Somalia, and the fourth one was a Taiwanese fishing vessel seized Monday that was already only 30 miles (48 kilometers) from the lifeboat.

7.      He said the ships include the German cargo ship Hansa Stavanger, seized earlier this month. The ship's crew of 24 is made up of five Germans, three Russians, two Ukrainians, two Filipinos and 12 Tuvalus. Another man identified as a pirate by three different residents of Haradhere also said the captured German ship had been sent to the rescue.

8.      "They had asked us for reinforcement and we have already sent a good number of well-equipped colleagues, who were holding a German cargo ship," said the pirate who asked that only his first name, Badow, be used to protect him from reprisals.

9.      "We are not intending to harm the captain, so that we hope our colleagues would not be harmed as long as they hold him," Badow said.

10.     "All we need, first, is a safe route to escape with the captain, and then (negotiate) ransom later," he added.

11.     The freighter that was the target of the pirates headed away from the lifeboat Thursday, Maersk shipping line said, and a teams of armed Navy SEALs is on board, according to a U.S. official who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation.

12.     The Alabama was sailing toward the Kenyan port of Mombasa - its original destination - and was expected to arrive Saturday night, said Joseph Murphy, a professor at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy whose son, Shane Murphy, is second-in-command of the vessel.

Comments: Do the pirates actually think they are going to be given a clear passage and THEN negotiate the release for ransom ?? I can not imagine that occurring. This is turning out to be an old fashioned stand-off to see who blinks first. 

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