STATUS OF SEIZED VESSELS AND CREWS IN SOMALIA, THE GULF OF ADEN AND THE INDIAN OCEAN (ecoterra - 28. December 2010)
Please note a new additional EMERGENCY HELPLINE number: +254-719-603-176
STATUS-SUMMARY:
Albert Einstein: Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either.
No matter what some navies say in order to cover naval ineffectiveness:
Today, 28. December 2010, 20h30 UTC, at least 42 foreign vessels plus one barge are kept in Somali hands against the will of their owners, while at least 730 hostages or captives - including a South-African yachting couple - suffer to be released.
But even EU NAVFOR, who count only high-value, mostly British insured vessels, admitted now that even on their rather understating account over 600 hostages are kept on the abducted vessels.
Since EU NAVFOR's inception two years ago the piracy has started in earnest and has now completely escalated. Only knowledgeable analysts recognized the link.
Request the Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor from ECOTERRA Intl. for background info and see the updated map of the PIRACY COASTS OF SOMALIA.
WHAT NAVIES NEVER SEE:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/05/fighting_for_control_of_somali.html
What Foreign Soldiers and even their Officers Never Seem to Realize:
The Scramble For Somalia
LATEST:
STILL OVER 700 SEAFARERS HELD HOSTAGE IN SOMALIA !
Number of sea-jacked vessels exceeds the pirates' catch of 2009 - all time record, despite the fact that over 25 nations regularly patrol these waters. While billions are spend for the militarization and mercenaries, still no help is coming forward to pacify and develop the coastal areas of Somalia.
GERMAN MERCHANT VESSEL CONFIRMED SEA-JACKED BY SOMALI PIRATES (ecop-marine)
At 13h03 UTC (10h03 local time) on 27 December 2010, German-owned MV EMS RIVER came under attack by a Pirate Action Group operating from sea-jacked MT MOTIVATOR acting as mother-ship in position 17 57.7N - 057 43.8E.
The merchant ship then was pirated approximately 175 nautical miles (280 kilometers) North East of the port of Salalah, Oman, EU NAVFOR's Wing Cmdr. Paddy O'Kennedy confirmed today, Tuesday.
Already in a report yesterday an ECOTERRA spokeswoman had described the situation as extremely dangerous, because a collision or other mishap during the attack could have led to a disastrous oil spill from the vessel used by the pirates as their launch, since it carries a huge load of lubrication oil and the attacked ship carries dangerous goods in form of a cargo of Petroleum.
MV MOTIVATOR was in the vicinity of Antigua/Barbuda-flagged EMS RIVER throughout the attack which further enforces the current pirate modus operandi of the use of already pirated large vessels as mother-ships.
The 5,200 dwt general cargo ship, which is was on her way to San Nicolas, Greece from Jebel Ali in the UAE at the time of the attack.
The relatively small general cargo ship with a gross tonnage of 3,500 has a crew of one Romanian and seven Filipinos. It is managed by GRONA SHIPPING GMBH & CO KG for owner GRONA AMMERSUM, a subsidiary of Grona Tankers GmbH & Co KG.from Leer, Germany and is insured by Britannia Steamship Insurance Association Ltd.
Meanwhile the Taiwan-owned fishing vessel FV SHIUH FU No. 1, pirated on Christmas Day, continued its strange patrol-like pattern at the North-East coast of Madagascar.
Though the pirates, who had received a ransom, set the MT MARIDA MARGUERITE free yesterday, the vessel had first to receive bunker fuel before it finally could sail. Rumours from the ground have it that there might even be two stowaways still on the vessel.
©2010-ecoterra/ecop-marine
From the SMCM (Somali Marine and Coastal Monitor): (and with a view on news with an impact on Somalia)
Somali lawmakers charge top officials signed illegal contracts By Abdi Hajji Hussein (AHN)
Parliament members called on Prime Minister Mohammed Abdulahi Mohammed to explain if he knows anything about secret contracts some of Somalia's top government officials had with foreign companies.
After a meeting in the Somali capital, some 50 lawmakers on Tuesday demanded that Somali government officials come before the parliament and display allegedly unlawful contracts with foreign companies currently operating in the country.
All foreign companies operating in Somalia should leave the country as soon as possible, some of the parliamentarians said in a statement. MP Abdurrahman Jimale Osman, speaking to reporters in Mogadishu, charged that over the last few months a number of foreign companies had entered the country illegally and were operating in many parts of Somalia.
Some high ranking government officials are accused of being behind the illegal operations, according to the MP. Parliament members called on Prime Minister Mohammed Abdulahi Mohammed to come before the body to explain if he knows anything about secret contracts some of Somalia's top government officials had with foreign companies.
The MPs' statement comes less than 24 hours after reports suggesting the Somali government had handed over Mogadishu International Airport to SKA Air and Logistics, a Dubai-based company.
One day after the report, SKA Air and Logistics denied it had signed a agreement with the government to manage the airport for 10 years.
Yusuf Sheikh Ali, the spokesman of SKA air operations in Somalia, has told radio station Shabelle the company had a contract with the Somali government.
He said under the agreement, SKA would implement many changes and improve those that are functional but require upgrading.
"Somali government has the responsibility and will control all the activities in the airport," Ali noted.
Last week, the Somali government announced it had a contract with Saracen international, a United Kingdom-based security company, to train Somalia's police, military, bodyguards and civil servants.
Obama 'must embrace Islam' (agencies)
A leader of Somalia's Islamist insurgency has threatened to attack the US unless President Barack Obama convert to Islam.
Mogadishu, Somalia - A leader of Somalia's Islamist insurgency has threatened to attack America.
Fuad Mohamed "Shongole" Qalaf said in Monday's radio message that US President Barack Obama must embrace Islam or Somalia's al-Shabab militia would seek to launch attacks in the United States.
Al-Shabab has not yet launched an attack outside Africa but Western intelligence has long been worried because the group targeted young Somali-Americans for recruitment.
Fuad Mohamed "Shongole" Qalaf said in Monday's radio message that US President Barack Obama must embrace Islam or Somalia's al-Shabab militia would seek to launch attacks in the United States.
Al-Shabab has not yet launched an attack outside Africa but Western intelligence has long been worried because the group targeted young Somali-Americans for recruitment.
Iran: Arrogant powers back extremism (PressTV)
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says all inhuman moves by extremist currents are carried out with the political support of arrogant and corrupt powers, when he and Somali Parliament Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden met in Tehran on Monday.
"Such provocations by extremist currents are not limited to Somalia and they [extremist currents] have caused problems in different parts of the world, including Afghanistan and Pakistan," Ahmadinejad said in a meeting with Somali Parliament Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden in Tehran on Monday. Ahmadinejad stressed the importance of strengthening religious and cultural solidarity among Muslim countries to counter "evil measures" which are conducted in the name of Islam.
The Iranian chief executive expressed the Islamic Republic's support for progress, stability and security in Somalia, IRNA reported.
He urged the two countries to expand close parliamentary relations and said Iran regards enhanced ties between the parliaments of the two countries as "effective" in promoting bilateral cooperation.
The Somali parliament speaker, for his part, expressed his country's support for progress and strength of the Islamic Republic.
He said foreign intervention in Somalia is the outcome of the ongoing insecurity in the country and added that foreign forces have always sought to undermine ties between Muslim countries.
Sheikh Aden arrived in the Iranian capital city of Tehran early Sunday on a four-day visit at the head of a high-ranking delegation.
In a meeting with Iranian Parliament (Majlis) Speaker Ali Larijani on Sunday, the top Somali lawmaker described his visit to Tehran as an opportunity to hold talks with senior Iranian officials and work out solutions to the problems that his country is currently faced with.
'Religious extremism rooted in West'
In a meeting with Iranian Parliament (Majlis) Speaker Ali Larijani on Sunday, the top Somali lawmaker described his visit to Tehran as an opportunity to hold talks with senior Iranian officials and work out solutions to the problems that his country is currently faced with.
In a meeting with Iranian Parliament (Majlis) Speaker Ali Larijani on Sunday, the top Somali lawmaker described his visit to Tehran as an opportunity to hold talks with senior Iranian officials and work out solutions to the problems that his country is currently faced with.
Iranian Foreign Ministry caretaker Ali Akbar Salehi says extremism and violence in the name of religion is a creation of Western governments.
"We reject violence and extremism in the name of religion. Unfortunately, all such movements and actions, which are carried out under different names, are created by western countries," Salehi said. Salehi made the comments in a meeting with visiting Somali Parliament Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden in Tehran on Monday.
He praised Somalia's formation of a new government and said he was certain the nation could overcome its domestic issues without foreign interference.
In the New Year Obama should embrace a genuine African Union Somalia policy and cut ties with Uganda's war criminal ruler [Black Star News Editorial]
If New Year's prayers are answered, then the United States must stop bleeding the people of Somalia.
The U.S. must abandon its current approach to the Somalia tragedy. Washington must explore a genuine solution to end Somalia's decades of warfare and political paralyses.
Currently the U.S. underwrites a fictitious government in Mogadishu kept in place by Ugandan soldiers, sent there on behalf of the U.S. by dictator, Gen. Yoweri K. Museveni, who is without a doubt an unindicted war criminal.
Washington finds this relationship beneficial because by Uganda propping up the fictitious Mogadishu government, the U.S. believes Somalia is secured from being overtaken as a haven by Al-Qaeda, the United States' avowed foe. The U.S. views Somalia as Africa's Afghanistan. Nothing could be further from the truth.
For Gen. Museveni, the relationship is invaluable for many reasons: it prevents the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, from indicting him for the well documented war crimes his army committed in the DR Congo, on which the World Court found Uganda liable and awarded Congo $10 billion, or from unsealing the indictment if one already exists; it prevents Ocampo from indicting Museveni for well documented crimes against humanity committed by his army and generals, on his orders, in the northern part of Uganda; it provides him with the aura of international legitimacy, by being associated with President Barack Obama, even when his popularity continues to erode domestically as Uganda approaches a presidential election in February; and, it provides sustenance, in the form of military materiel and money, for his armed forces--which army he has primarily used to suppress domestic dissent and to commit wars of aggression against Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and now the Central African Republic.
The United States' rationale for having Uganda act as its hired mercenary army is preposterous and actually counters its own stated policy objectives. The fictitious Somalia government currently holds only a few blocks of Mogadishu, the capital. This means that since it's unable to expand its writ beyond this area, Somalia is actually fertile ground to become a haven for Al-Qaeda.
Therefore, the longer the U.S. pursues this strategically suicidal Somalia policy, the longer the crisis lasts, and with it, the suffering of the Somali people. Media accounts never refer to Somalia's civilians deaths, possibly tens of thousands--first through the U.S.-sponsored Ethiopian invasion, through starvation and diseases caused by the recurrent mass dislocations of population, and through the reckless shelling by Ugandan soldiers.
How can the United States continue to underwrite a policy that is actually contributing to the deaths of Somalians, and to the continued destruction of their country?
And what of the war crimes?
In addition to the indiscriminate shelling of Somalian civilians, it's been widely reported, including in corporate newspapers such as The New York Times that the fictitious Somali government employs child soldiers trained by Uganda --some of whom are as young as 11 years old-- to defend the few blocks it now controls.
This comes as no surprise to people who have followed Gen. Museveni's M.O. for years; he employed child soldiers in his own successful insurgency in Uganda. Of course, the use of children in war is prohibited by international law; the Somalian children are being paid with U.S. taxpayers money, which means the Obama administration is actually an accomplice to war crimes.
Fact is the Ugandan army: has not been able to check, let alone defeat the forces fighting against the fictitious Mogadishu government; it has not restored peace to any part of Somalia; it has not protected Somalians against violence from the armed militias; and, it has certainly not made Somalia a better country for its citizens.
It was a tall order--to ask Uganda's president, using his army, to undertake in Somalia what he has not been able to accomplish in Uganda in 25 years in office as the United States' own ambassador in Kampala confided in his memos to Washington, which were revealed to the world, courtesy of Wiki leaks.
Will the United States reverse its Somalia policy in the New Year? Not judging by the latest reports that the United Nations Security Council has okayed thousands of more troop reinforcement --surprise, surprise-- from Uganda, to Somalia.
Uganda's Gen. Museveni is an autocrat who is accountable to no one--his own regime's survival is predicate on continued anarchy in Somalia. The United States has a government that's supposedly accountable to Congress and to the electorate. What Somalia needs is an international conference that involves all major stakeholders, military, political, and civil society.
Contrary to the global media misrepresentation, Somalians are actually some of the most industrious, entrepreneurial, and intellectual people in all of Africa. If such a conference were sponsored by the international community, Somalians could form a legitimate interim regime--not the fictitious and discredited government now imposed on Somalia by the United States and Uganda.
African countries, including those with resources, such as South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, and Libya, might then be more inclined to contribute money and soldiers to a genuine African Union peace keeping force, with a clear mandate and rules of engagement, to ensure the security, while Somalia trains a police force. Perhaps Somalians may even be persuaded to lay down their weapons if they see that the world is genuinely interested in a comprehensive peace and recovery program.
So long as Somalia remains a mere arena for Washington's proxy war with Al-Qaeda, it will in fact remain a haven for all sorts of lawless militias--contributing to more and more Somalian deaths.
Gen. Museveni does not care; but what about President Barack Obama?
"Speaking Truth To Empower."
WikiLeaks: Call of Duty By Mark LeVine (*)
Leaks have made it harder for Western governments to dupe their citizens into accepting potential future wars.
Leaks have made it harder for Western governments to dupe their citizens into accepting potential future wars.
No one outside of the Washington establishment and the myriad foreign leaders shamed by revelations of their penchant for hatred, hubris and pedestrian peccadillos can seriously argue that the release of these classified documents has done anything but good for the cause of peace and political transparency.
Whether about Iraq, Afghanistan, or the minuate of American diplomacy, they have shed crucial light on some of the most important issues of the day and will make it much harder for Western or Middle Eastern governments to lie to their people about so many aspects of the various wars on/of terror in the future.
Indeed, if there's anyone who deserves the next Nobel Peace Prize more than the courageous American soldier, Bradley Manning, who is alleged to have given the documents to Wikileaks in the first place, I'd like to know.
At the very least, given what a mockery President Obama has made of the principles for which the prize is supposed to stand - evidence of which, like pressuring Spain to drop criminal investigations into Bush administration torture, have only come to light thanks to the latest WikiLeaks release - the Nobel Committee should demand his medal back and give it to Manning or whoever the leaker is.
A new approach to diplomacy-honesty and transparency
Already, thanks to WikiLeaks, citizens in the West and Middle East know more than they were ever supposed to about how corrupt, misguided, incompetent and mendacious, are their leaders and the policies pursued in their name.
As each new revelation comes to light, I can't help thinking, why was this secret in the first place? Wouldn't it be better if American and other diplomats shared their concerns openly rather than hiding them from the public?
How about everyone telling the truth for once and letting the people decide? Aren't Italians better off knowing that the American Ambassador thinks Berlusconi is too old to party like a rock star and too corrupt to be trusted with his country's leadership? Shouldn't Americans know that the Saudis continue to funnel huge sums of money to militants and that Pakistanis are refusing to hand over nuclear fuel they long ago promised to give up?
Wouldn't Mexicans be better off knowing just what the US thinks of their anti-drug efforts, and Americans better off knowing just how badly the drug war is proceeding? And certainly the news that Saudi Arabia, at least, supports attacking Iran has already led Iran to tone down its rhetoric and seek to reassure its neighbors of its peaceable intentions.
As far as I can see, the best development that could come out of Wikigate would be that diplomats around the world begin tweeting their previously secret observations on a daily basis, so that everyone knows where everyone else stands and governments can no longer hide behind diplomatic courtesy to continue with the all-too-often reprehensible "business as usual". The world has never needed honesty more than it does today.
Looking for shelter in an increasingly dangerous world
If there's anyone who doesn't think the world - and particularly the United States - desperately needs WikiLeaks, I offer you "Exhibit A" of why this is the case: the star-studded official trailer for the "Call of Duty: Black Ops" first person shooter video game. Regular readers of this column might recall my November 16 article, "Nowhere Left to Run," where I discussed the cultural implications of "Black Ops" after spotting a poster for the game in a Berlin subway around the time of its release.
Since then I have seen the trailer, whose slogan is "There's a soldier in all of us" and features both ordinary people - a secretary, fry cook, hotel concierge, and the like - along with celebrities like Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, and late night American talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.
After watching the trailer I was so exasperated I emailed a colleague at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies here at Lund and asked him, "Where is Ice Cube when you need him?" His reply stunned me: "LoL you don't know where Ice Cube is? He's doing the voice of Bowman in 'Black Ops'..."
In case you're not a hiphop fan, once upon a time Ice Cube was the terror of law abiding white citizens across America as a member of the highly political gangsta rap group NWA. In fact, their song "F*** Da Police" almost got them into as much trouble with the US government as is Julian Assange today.
But those days are long forgotten. Today Mr. Cube spends his time, when not playing secret service agents in movies, providing the voice for one of the lead characters in "Black Ops."
But it's not just hiphop that's prostituted itself to violence and big corporations. The rock n' roll establishment has equally shamed itself, as none other than the Rolling Stones allowed their song "Gimme Shelter," one of the most important anti-war songs of the Vietnam era, to be used as the soundtrack for the trailer, which shows Kobe Bryant smiling widely as he and innumerable other "ordinary" people blast away an unseen enemy in a clearly Middle Eastern landscape (not surprisingly, digital sales of the song and other Stones hits spiked in the wake of the trailer's release).
A chilling view of american culture and values
The "Black Ops" trailer makes for chilling viewing, as it tells viewers - successfully, apparently, given the record - breaking sales of the game - that they can derive great pleasure from taking a break from life to pretend to kills people half way around the world.
Perhaps most troubling, the colours and landscape of the trailer are eerily reminiscent of the infamous killing of a dozen Iraqis by a US helicopter crew, some of whom are laughing as they fire missiles at their targets. Not surprisingly, the only reason we know of this event is because WikiLeaks put the classified video, dubbed "collateral murder," into the public domain last April, in one of the releases that first made the organisation (in)famous.
Apparently Bryant, Kimmel, Cube, the Stones and the designers of "Black Ops" are all either ignorant of, or more likely unmoved, by the reality that ordinary Americans - fry cooks, secretaries, concierges and other working class people - have been forced to answer the "call of duty" for extended tours in Iraq and now Afghanistan during the last decade, where many have been forced into precisely the life and death situations of extreme violence that Bryant and his famous friends were no doubt paid handsomely to pretend so thoroughly to enjoy.
This is the mindset, at all levels of American society, against which the truths revealed by the hundreds of thousands of WikiLeak documents must stand. And the potential for changing peoples' minds is clearly disturbing enough to the US government that it has begun, when not calling for Assange's arrest and worse to warn students at elite institutions like Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs that they risk never being hired by the State Department if they even mention the WikiLeaks documents on any social media sites in which they participate.
Like the corrupt law firm that hired innocent newbie attorney Tom Cruise in the movie "The Firm," the last thing the Government wants is for prospective employees to understand what it's really up to until they're sucked in too deep to change it.
Truths that must Be learned-the sooner the better
Chances are, if your government is telling you not to read something, you should be reading it twice as closely.
The detailing of all the problems the Bush and Obama administrations have had in executing policies in the Muslim world have done an invaluable service to any citizen who wants to understand whether the government's claims as well as aims in the war on terror are both reasonable and feasible on the ground (sadly, it seems more often than not, the answer is they are not).
Certainly, I will urge my own students to read the various WikiLeak documents and compare them with documents we have from wars past, to gain greater insight into the continuities and changes in war-making, diplomacy, and the motivations behind both over the course of modern history.
But if the release of over countless classified documents has given the world a "banquet of secrets" to feast upon (as Timothy Garton Ash put it in The Guardian), historians might be tempted to wonder what scraps we will be left to scrounge over when it comes time to write histories of the events covered by the various WikiLeaks documents with the nuance and perspective that only comes from a certain amount of historical distance from the events in question.
And it's not merely professional jealousy by people used to having largely exclusive access to the historical record-- after all, who but historians is willing to sit in dusty archives for years searching through hundreds of thousands of documents for a few gems that can advance the state of knowledge on a topic? With easily searchable data bases, now - Heaven forbid! - anyone can be an historian, rendering judgment on events and motivations that members of the previously closed historians' guild normally have to wait decades to get access to.
Or can they?
Despite the huge volume of cables and documents released by WikiLeaks, they only offer a very partial account of the realities they discussed. The often unguarded and even eloquent language of the writers of the dispatches does not change the fact that they were written by US government employees (whether soldiers or diplomats) for their superiors, addressing issues from an American perspective and a set of interests that can't be assumed to match those of the myriad other actors in the dramas these documents reflect.
History's lesson: multiple perspectives provide the best view
No matter how much we think we can learn about the realities of the Afpak, Iraqi or larger Middle Eastern conflicts from WikiLeaks, the limited perspective of the documents WikiLeaks has been able to obtain reveals that there is still an incredible amount to learn before we come close to having the full picture of the history-making events of the last decade.
And unless there are British, French, Iraqi, Afghan and other soldiers with a similar access to classified documents and a reckless disregard for their own future, it is likely that the full accounting of the "Wikiwars" will likely wait until the historians of tomorrow are finally allowed to peruse the far larger volume of documents that governments will work even harder than before to keep out of the public domain.
Mark LeVine is a professor of history at UC Irvine and senior visiting researcher at the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies at Lund University in Sweden. His most recent books are Heavy Metal Islam (Random House) and Impossible Peace: Israel/Palestine Since 1989 (Zed Books).
On the 25th Day of Wikileaks, My Government Gave to Me By David Swanson (australia.to)
On the first day of Wikileaks, my government gave to me: the military in every embassy.
On the second day of Wikileaks, my government gave to me: two criminal presidents.
On the third day of Wikileaks, my government gave to me: three illegal wars.
On the fourth day of Wikileaks, my government gave to me: four covered up crimes.
On the fifth day of Wikileaks, my government gave to me: five plutocracies (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
On the sixth day of Wikileaks, my government gave to me: six sycophants (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
On the seventh day of Wikileaks, my government gave to me: seven suicide attacks.
On the eighth day of Wikileaks, my government gave to me: eight enemy combatants.
On the ninth day of Wikileaks, my government gave to me: nine NATO divisions.
On the tenth day of Wikileaks, my government gave to me: ten years of pollution.
On the eleventh day of Wikileaks, my government gave to me: more profits for credit card companies.
On the twelfth day of Wikileaks, my government gave to me: drug company immunity.
On the thirteenth day of Wikileaks, my government gave to me: thirteen theocratic thugs.
On the fourteenth day of Wikileaks, my government gave to me: yet another war.
On the fifteenth day of Wikileaks, my government gave to me: fifteen happy followers.
On the sixteenth day of Wikileaks, my government gave to me: sixteen sadistic sanctions.
On the seventeenth day of Wikileaks, my government gave to me: seventeen infuriating peace makers.
On the eighteenth day of Wikileaks, my government gave to me: eighteen months of ignorance.
On the nineteenth day of Wikileaks, my government gave to me: Bollywood-Pentagon partnerships.
On the twentieth day of Wikileaks, my government gave to me: corporate muscle for diplomacy.
On the twenty-first day of Wikileaks, my government gave to me: black market nukes.
On the twenty-second day of Wikileaks, my government gave to me: congressional prostitution.
On the twenty-third day of Wikileaks, my government gave to me: twenty-three convicted kidnappers.
On the twenty-fourth day of Wikileaks, my government gave to me: twenty-four million McDollars.
On the twenty-fifth day of Wikileaks, my government gave to me: killing the messenger.
And 99.25% of the cables were yet to be released.
DEFEND JULIAN ASSANGE! https://donations.datacell.com/ - earmark for Julian Assange Defence Fund.
For the terms of the fund please visit http://www.fsilaw.com/
Russia has suggested that Julian Assange should be awarded the Nobel peace prize, in an unexpected show of support from Moscow for the WikiLeaks founder.
STOP TORTURING U.S. Army Private BRADLEY MANNING !
Please contribute to the Bradley Manning's Defence Fund. His health is seriously deteriorating. Contact: jeff[at]bradleymanning.org
SUPPORT WIKILEAKS! https://donations.datacell.com/
FIND WikiLEAKS: The orginal WikiLeaks domain is resolving again, but www.wikileaks.org redirects to a mirror on www.wikileaks.info, which has also other leaks plus the cablegates section, which is centred at www.wikileaks.ch -
see: http://wikileaks.ch/mirrors.html (over 1426 up-to-date sites of 2194 websites now mirror WL)
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SOMALI WATERWORLD
THE SITUATION ON SOMALIA's 6th ESTATE:
- YOU ARE PERSISTENTLY BEING LIED TO WITH IMPUNITY
- TRENDS
- SOLUTIONS PENDING
- ECOTERRA STATEMENT and
- THE WISH-LISTS FOR THE NAVIES, THE UN AND BAN KI-MOON
READ ALL AND UNDERSTAND AT: http://beforeitsnews.com/story/135118
HOSTAGE CASES UNDER OBSERVATION:
Genuine members of families of the abducted seafarers can call +254-719-603-176 for further details or send an e-mail in any language to office[AT]ecoterra-international.org
MV SOCOTRA 1 : Seized December 25. 2009. The vessel carrying a food cargo for a Yemeni businessman and bound for Socotra Archipelago was captured in the Gulf of Aden after it left Alshahir port in the eastern province of Hadramout. 6 crew members of Yemeni nationality were aboard. Latest information said the ship was commandeered onto the high seas between Oman and Pakistan, possibly in another piracy or smuggling mission. 2 of the original crew are reportedly on land in Puntland. VESSEL STILL MISSING and/or working as pirate ship, was confirmed by Yemeni authorities.
FV AL-SHURA (AL-SHUVAL?) : Seized after February 20, 2010 and most likely on 25th February with one of 9 the Yemeni sailors being killed by the Somali pirate-attackers. Allegedly the pirates now left the vessel and the dhow was returned to her owner, but independent confirmation is still awaited from Yemen. A similar dhow named AL-SHUVAL was said to have be moored off Garacad at the North-Eastern Indian ocean coast off Somalia until recently and was observed at Dhanaane and then moved away. The vessel is now missing and as such confirmed by Yemeni authorities.
MV ICEBERG I : Seized March 29, 2010. The UAE-owned, Panama-flagged Ro-Ro vessel MV ICEBERG 1 (IMO 7429102) with her originally 24 multinational crew members (9 Yemenis, 6 Indians, 4 from Ghana, 2 Sudanese, 2 Pakistani and 1 Filipino) was sea-jacked just 10nm outside Aden Port, Gulf of Aden. The 3,960 dwt vessel was mostly held off Kulub at the North-Eastern Indian Ocean coast of Somalia. Since negotiations had not yet achieved any solution, the vessel was taken to the high seas again. Then the USS McFaul intercepted and identified the ship on 19th May 2010, despite the pirates having painted over her name and re-named the ship SEA EXPRESS, while the vessel was on a presumed piracy mission on the high-seas. Since about 50 pirates on the ship made any rescue operation impossible without endangering the 24 crew, the naval ship followed the commandeered vessel's movements for the next 36 hours, until it began to sail back towards the coast of Somalia. Already back then it had transpired that the shipping company Azal Shipping based in Dubai refused to pay any ransom and the ship is apparently not insured, though it carries quiet valuable cargo. It seems that the British cargo owner is influencing the not forthcoming negotiations. The sailors soon had no more food, water or medicine from their stores on board. Chief Officer Kumar, Chief Engineer Mohamed and Second Engineer Francis also stated since months that they urgently need Diesel for the electricity generators. The crew requested in July and August again humanitarian intervention as before but could only receive some supplies through intervention by local elders and a humanitarian group, because the owner-manager neglects the crew . In September the some negotiations for the release started again, but have not been concluded, because the captors consider the offer of the shipowner as unrealistic. According to the Chinese state-media newswire XINHUA, the acting director at the ministry of foreign affairs in Accra (Ghana) Mr. Lawrence Sotah said the ministry, in response to a petition by a relative of one of the hostages, had commenced investigations, but reportedly stated also that their location and reasons for the kidnapping remained unknown. "We do not have any information as to what the pirates are demanding, because the owners of the ship or the pirates themselves have not put out any information which will be helpful for us to know exactly what they want," he said. "Ghana's mission in Saudi Arabia has been contacted to assist, " Sotah said. He said the ministry was working with other international security organization to get to the bottom of what he termed the "alleged" kidnapping.
The vessel is owned by a company called ICEBERG INTERNATIONAL LTD, but registered only with "care of" the ISM-manager AZAL SHIPPING & CARGO (L.L.C) - Shipping Lines Agents - Dubai UAE, whose representative is saying that he is handling the case.
Though EU NAVFOR spokesman Cmdr. John Harbour had stated that the vessel was carrying just "general mechanical equipment" and was heading for the United Arab Emirates when it was attacked, it carries according to the owner-manager generators, transformers and empty fuel tanks. It could now be confirmed that besides other cargo it carries generators and transformers for British power rental company Aggreko International Power Projects and the cargo seems to be better insured than the vessel.
One of the sailors from Ghana was able to speak to a journalist back home and stated on 22. September: "They have given us a 48 hour deadline that if we don't come up with anything reasonable they will kill some of us and sink the vessel. I am appealing to the Ghanaian authority that they should do something to save our lives because our treatment here is inhuman". The vessel is now very close to the shore of Garacad. In the beginning of October the Somali pirates allegedly threatened to kill the sailors and to sell the body organs of the 22 hostages, if their ransom demands are not met in the near future. Media reports said the information was received via a text message from one of the hostages, but investigations showed that the message, which read that the pirates will kill them and then remove their eyes and kidneys in order to be sold, is more a sort of a macabre hoax. On 27. October the third officer (name of the Yemeni man known but withheld until next of kin would speak out) died. The crew reported the case, evidence was provided and the owner confirmed that he also knows. Since there is no more light diesel to run the generators for the freezer, the owner reportedly just gave instructions to take the body off the vessel, but has made no arrangements to bring it back to Yemen.
Thereafter it was said that the group holding the ship would use it again to capture other vessels when two skiffs were taken taken on board hinting at plans that the gang intended to commandeer the ship to the high-seas again. But vessel and crew were then still held at Kulub near Garacad at the North-Eastern Indian Ocean coast of Somalia, because it is believed the vessel is out of fuel.
The families of the Indian seafarers on board have several times called upon the President and the Prime Minister of India and addressed the Indian Minister to help and solve the crisis, since the shipowner is not even responding to their requests for information. Though Dubai's Azal Shipping, fronting for the real owners, stated to a maritime website that the crew would not be malnourished, the governments of the seafarers already have statements from the captain and crew-members themselves, which state otherwise and also describe the appalling medical situation.
Again an urgent request to deliver relief-supplies in form of food, water and urgently required medicine as well as fuel for the generators has been made by the captain and crew, but was so far neglected by the ship-owner, who also has not yet facilitated the transfer of the body of the deceased to his Yemeni family. A great number of the still surviving 23 crew are suffering now from serious medical conditions of various kind , ranging from blindness, infections to mental illness, and most suffer from skin rashes, which make now humanitarian intervention and medical assistance compulsory.
It is hoped that the Indian Prime Minister, who was in the UAE, can achieve that the owners of the vessel are now really engaging in a tangible process to free the vessel and not just rely on their so-called consultants.
Latest reports state that the vessel is now only one mile off the beach off Kulub. Dangers that it might get wrecked on the beach are real, because the chief engineer alerted that there is no more fuel on board to manoeuvre the vessel away from the shore and heavy winds and waves push the vessel closer to land.
It would not be the first time that unscrupulous vessel or cargo owners even hope to cash in on the insurance money for a wrecked ship and lost cargo in such a case.
Since 02. February 2005 the classification society Bureau Veritas had withdrawn from this vessel, because a survey of the ship was already overdue back then and no survey has been carried out since. But this did not stop disputed outfits like the Canadian company Africa Oil to use the ICEBERG I as their supply vessel for their adventures with the Australian oil-juggler Range Resources and the Puntland regional administration and to take equipment back to Djibouti when their deal finally went sour recently.
The vessel is also not covered by an ITF Agreement and the crew will have serious difficulties to get their rights even once they come free.
Already the family of the deceased Yemeni seafarer and their lawyer from Aden had no success to achieve any co-operation from the vessel owner or their front-men - a situation experienced by several organizations already before.
Now the flag-state Panama and the governments of the seafarers have been addressed and are requested to step in.
FV JIH-CHUN TSAI 68 (aka JIN CHUN TSAI NO 68) (日春財68號) : Seized March 30, 2010. The Taiwan-flagged and -owned fishing vessel with factory facility was attacked together with sister-ship Jui Man Fa (瑞滿發), which managed to escape. The vessels are operating out of the Seychelles and reportedly had been observed in Somali waters earlier. The crew of Jih-chun Tsai No. 68 consists of 14 sailors - a Taiwanese captain along with two Chinese and 11 Indonesian seamen. The vessel was mostly held at Kulub at the North-Eastern Indian Ocean coast of Somalia and at first negotiations faced serious communication problems, while later allegedly a conclusion was achieved. But the release could still not be effected, since the brokers as well as the pirate-group holding the vessel changed. Allegedly money was sent into the wrong hands and never reached those holding the vessel and the seafarers hostage. It was reported in the meantime that the Taiwanese captain had several times been beaten severely. However, a release of vessel and crew from Kulub seemed to be near and the vessel left the coast at the end of November, but is said now to NOT have been released and instead is used for another piracy operation.
MV RAK AFRIKANA : Seized April 11, 2010. The general cargo vessel RAK AFRICANA (IMO 8200553) with a dead-weight of 7,561 tonnes (5992t gross) was captured at 06h32 approximately 280 nautical miles west of Seychelles and 480nm off Somalia in position 04:45S - 051:00E. The captured vessel flies a flag of convenience from St. Vincent and the Grenadines and has as registered owner RAK AFRICANA SHIPPING LTD based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and an office in the Seychelles, while industry sources said the beneficial owner was from China. AL SINDBAD SHIPPING & MARINE from Ras al Khaimah (UAE) serves as manager. While China's Seafarers Union, based on an outdated ITF database, first spoke of 23 Chinese nationals as crew, the shipowner says there are 26 seamen from India, Pakistan and Tanzania on board. The actual crew-list has not been provided yet and the crew is not covered by an ITF agreement, but it could be established that the 26 member crew comprises of 11 Indians, including the captain, the second and third officer, as well as 10 Tanzanians and 5 Pakistanis. The vessel stopped briefly due to engine problems - around 280 nautical miles (520 kilometres) west of the Seychelles - but was then commandeered to Somalia and was held off Ceel Huur not far from Harardheere at the Central Somali Indian Ocean Coast, from where it was moved to Ga'an and further towards Hobyo, but then it was still held in the vicinity of Harardheere. When the pirates tried to leave the coast last time from that location they were pushed back by the navies to the shore and the vessel is now held near Xamdule (Hamdule is between Hobyo and Harardheere). The captors have forced the crew to fly the Italian flag, signalling an apparent beneficial owner of the vessel. Meanwhile negotiations had reportedly broken down - because the interpreter was confused by not knowing if he was talking to the right people - but seem now to have started again.
THAI FISHING FLEET : Seized April 18, 2010 with a total crew of 77 sailors, of which 12 are Thai and the others of different nationalities, the Thailand-flagged vessels operating out of Djibouti were fishing illegal in the Indian Ocean off Minicoy Island in the fishing grounds of the Maldives. All three vessels were then commandeered towards the Somali coast by a group of in total around 15 Somalis. Already there are reports of three dead sailors with these vessels.
FV PRANTALAY 11 with a crew of 26
FV PRANTALAY 12 with a crew of 25
FV PRANTALAY 14 with a crew of 26
None of these vessels is registered and authorized by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission to fish in the Indian Ocean.
The fleet was mostly held off the coast at Kulub near Garacad (06 59N 049 24E) at the north-eastern Indian Ocean coast of Somalia. The captors already threatened since months to use one of the hunter-vessels of the group as a piracy-launch, while negotiations have not been forthcoming. Prantalay 14 left the coast in the morning of 20. September to what is said to be another piracy expedition. Three skiffs, three ladders and other equipment were observed to be on board. The vessel has been further observed on 28. September near the shipping lanes in the area. On 30. September at 10h15 UTC a Pirate Action Group consisting of one skiffs with ladders and weapons was reported in position 07 34 N 057 39 E, which is assessed to be connected to an operation of this fishing vessel as Mother Ship - reported in position 06 47 N 060 51 E. A regional minister from Puntland got into problems when final negotiations for the release of the held vessels were supposed to take place at Garacad, but went sour. Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva wants the navy to extend its anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia for another month. He will seek cabinet approval for an additional budget of about 100 million baht for this purpose, navy chief Admiral Kamthorn Phumhiran said earlier. Adm Kamthorn said Mr Abhisit wants the mission of The Royal Thai Navy Counter Piracy Task Unit of two navy ships with 351 sailors and 20 special warfare troops on board, which had left Thailand on Sept 10 and is now operating in the Gulf of Aden, extended. The mission was originally set for 98 days, ending on Dec 12., but the usual fishing season goes beyond that time, which is believed to be behind the extension demands. Now also FV PRANTALAY 11 left on another hunting mission for piracy prey, because the Thais have not at all even tried to wrench the ships from the fists of their captors. Only PRANTALAY 12 and her crew was then left as a super-hostage at the coast until on 16th November also FV PRANTALAY 12 sailed again to the oceans. All 3 vessels are believed in the moment to hunt for larger prey, since the shipowner PT Interfisheries didn't secure their release.
FV PRANTALAY 14 returned in the meantime after having been used to capture another merchant vessel and is now held off Hobyo at the Central Somali Indian Ocean coast.
FV TAI YUAN 227 : Seized on May 06, 2010 in an area north of the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Seychelles as it headed for the Maldives. The Taiwanese fishing boat has a crew of 28 (9 Chinese, 3 Vietnamese, 3 Filipinos, 7 Kenyans and 2 from Mozambique). Taiwan's foreign ministry confirmed that the vessel had been seized after the Taipei Rescue Command Centre reported the incident to have taken place in approximate position 0105N-06750E. The ministry added that contact was made on Friday that week with the pirates who made an unspecified ransom demand, while the vessel is heading towards the Somali coast. The vessel has no authorization by the Indian Ocean Commission to fish in the Indian Ocean, which, however, is partly explained by the fact that China is opposed to Taiwan as flag state. Due to the inaction of the ship-owner and the Taiwan government to free the vessel, it was used again as launch for further piracy attacks. Vessel and crew was held off Habo at the Puntland coast of the Gulf of Aden, but now the Taiwanese fishing vessel is said by the NATO Shipping Centre (NSC) to be operating as pirate mother-ship within an area of a 200nm radius from 06 degrees 50 minutes north and 65 degrees 00 minutes east. NSC 'Counter Piracy Operation Ocean Shield' warns Masters . The vessel has even the potential to conduct pirate operations further out. The Tai Yuan 227 is a white hulled fishing vessel, approximately 50 metres long, with the registration numbers BH3Z87 painted in large black letters on the hull. NATO sounded a warning when at 21h00 UTC (18h00 local time) on October 19, 2010, the commandeered FV Tai Yuan 227 was sighted in position Latitude: 11°00N Longitude: 61°00E.
FV AL-DHAFIR : Seized on May 06 or 07, 2010 off the coast of Yemen. The Yemen coastguard of the Arabian peninsular state reported the case. Yemen's Defence Ministry confirmed that the 7 Yemeni nationals on board were abducted to Somalia. Yemen's coastguard said Somali pirates captured the fishing vessel, while it was docked at a Yemeni island in the Red Sea and had taken it to Somalia. The coastguard was continuing its efforts to retrieve the boat, the Defence Ministry said, but meanwhile the dhow is said to be held at the Somali shore close to Kulub.
MSV SHUVAL : Seized May 08, 2010. No further information has been retrieved about the fate of this Yemen-flagged vessel. Vessel considered missing. Yemeni authorities are further investigating.
MT MOTIVATOR : Seized July 04, 2010. At 09h44 UTC (12h44 local time) on 4 July, the chemical tanker's captain reported they were under small arms fire from a pirate attack in position 13°16N / 042°56E in the northern Bab Al Mandeb area - around 50nm north of the Bab al-Mandeb and going south when she was attacked by two small vessels in the southern Red Sea. After the initial notification of this attack, unsuccessful attempts were made to contact the Greek-owned vessel. The capture then was confirmed early on 5. July at Latitude: 11°33N, Longitude: 045°28E in the Gulf of Aden. Position 11 ° 50 / 45 ° 00 is Point A of the internationally protected maritime shipping corridor through the Gulf of Aden, called the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC). The 18 Filipino seafarers on board the MT MOTIVATOR (IMO 9340386) are all accounted for and safe, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) stated. Philippine's executive director Enrico Fos of the DFA's Office of the Under-secretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (OUMWA) said the seafarers were able to communicate with their families to let them know that all crew is well. "The pirates had also already called the ship's principal earlier, but no demands have yet been made," he added back then. The MT MOTIVATOR, with a dead-weight of 13,065 tonnes has a crew of 18 Filipino nationals on board, though the Philippine government had ruled out that Pinoy crews could be allowed to sail these dangerous waters through the Gulf of Aden. The sea-jacked ship is a Marshall Islands flagged chemical and oil-products tanker loaded with lubrication-oil and therefore is posing the potential danger of an oil-spill. The vessel's registered owner is CLARION SHIPPING CO of Athens in Greece and there also the ship-manager EVALEND SHIPPING TANKERS CO SA resides, with Mr. Kriton Lendoudis at the centre. While at least one foreign warship intercepted the captured merchant-vessel's path towards the Somali coast and shadowed the situation, it has become clear that the pirate group hails from Puntland. The commandeered vessel stopped briefly north of Puntland and intended to proceed towards the pirate stronghold of Garacad, but it was then held close to Xabo (Habo) at the Gulf of Aden coast due to a dispute between the captors from Puntland and other pirate groups at Garacad. Xabo became infamous for the holding of two tugboats and their crews for over a year. Meanwhile negotiations seem to have become difficult while the Vessel and crew were then held off Bander Beyla at the North-Eastern Indian-Ocean coast of Puntland and only recently moved further south towards Eyl. Because negotiations had not reached anywhere and conflicts were reported, the vessel has been taken for another piracy spree.
MV SUEZ : Seized August 02, 2010. In the early hours at 0420 UTC of AUG 02, 2010, the MV SUEZ (IMO number 8218720) reported being under small arms fire from a pirate attack by one of 3 skiffs in position 13 02N - 048 54E and minutes later the Indian captain reported pirates on board.
After notification of the attack, attempts were made by the navies, who are supposed to protect the area, to make contact with the MV SUEZ, but to no avail. Egyptian-owned MV SUEZ was sailing under flag of convenience from Panama in the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC) when it was attacked. Immediately after the first report a helicopter was directed to the ship but pirates had already taken over the command of the vessel, EU NAVFOR reported.
Two NATO warships, HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën and USS Cole, from the NATO counter piracy task force undertaking Operation OCEAN SHIELD, and a Singaporean warship the RSS Endurance from the CMF taskforce were within forty miles of MV Suez at the time of the attack. Despite reacting immediately and having a helicopter on the scene within 10 minutes, naval forces were unable to prevent the attack as the pirates had been able to board the ship within 5 minutes, NATO reported.
The case actually shows that though the ship was reportedly employing Best Management Practices, having barbed wire in place and fire hoses ready, the waters off Yemen and opposite Puntland are the most dangerous in the whole area. Somali sea-shifta are able to outwit and overcome any preventive measures - including arms on board, which only would drive the casualty figures higher. The incident actually highlights once again that it is high time to follow the advice to engage and help local Somali communities along the two coasts to make their coastlines safer themselves and to empower them to rule out the holding of any hostage from these innocent merchant vessels.
The MV SUEZ, with a deadweight of 17, 300 tonnes, has a crew of 24, according to NATO, while EU Navfor said 23 and the last crew-list: showed 21 with 9 Egyptians, 7 Pakistani, 3 Indians and 2 Sri Lankans. It, however, could be confirmed in the meantime that the 23 men crew consists of 11 Egyptians, 6 Indians, 4 Pakistani and 2 Sri Lankans. Crew and shipowner do not have an ITF Approved CBA agreement and - due to an overdue survey - the ship's classification status had been withdrawn by Germanischer Lloyd since 28. 06. 2010. The detailed, actual crew list is awaited. RED SEA NAVIGATION CO. serves as ship manager for owner MATSO SHIPPING CO. INC. - both from Port Tawfiq in Egypt. Red Sea Navigation's commercial director Mohamed Abdel Meguid said his company already paid a US$1.5 million ransom last year (actually it was the year before) for another hostage ship, the MV MANSOURAH 1 (aka Al Mansourah), which was sea-jacked on 03. September 2008 and released against the ransom after only 23 days. As DPA reported from Cairo a day later, an official with Red Sea Navigation Company, who declined to be identified publicly, said that the company would not pay a ransom and that the matter was being handled by the Foreign Ministry in Cairo.
MV SUEZ, the merchant vessel with a cargo of cement bags destined for Eritrea, was then commandeered towards the north-eastern Indian Ocean coast of Somalia and was expected at the pirate lair of Garacad in Puntland, but there pirate groups were fighting among each other and had come recently under pressure from Puntland forces. The vessel therefore dropped at first anchor near Bargaal and then was commandeered back again to the Gulf of Aden coast of Puntland, where it was held close to Bolimoog, between Alula and Habo at the very northern tip of the Horn of Africa. Thereafter the ship was moved again to the Indian Ocean coast near Dinowda Qorioweyn.
"The pirates are treating us toughly, and they took some of the crew to unknown place to exert pressure on owners of the ship," Farida Farouqe quoted her husband as telling her over the phone, as Xinhua news agency reported. The alleged demands vary between one, four and six million dollars, while officially the ship owner has been reported as saying already earlier that no ransom will be paid, while the cargo-owners seem to have been negotiating. Vessel and desperate crew were held off Dinowda Quorioweyn at the North-Eastern Indian Ocean coast of Puntland and until 12. December off Ceel Danaane.
Most recent reports state that the vessel, accompanied by a sea-jacked Iranian fishing vessel is ready to leave or has left the coast for another piracy mission, because the captors and the owners couldn't agree on a ransom.
YEMENI FISHING VESSEL : Seized August 26, 2010. The earlier reports provided by maritime observers speaking of the capture of a fishing vessel were confirmed now to the extend that the type and flag of the vessel have been identified. The Yemeni fishing vessel with at least 10 sailors on board was seized in the territorial waters of Somalia. The name of the vessel and Yemeni registration is not yet known. The Yemeni boat was sailing near the north coast of Somalia when the captors attacked it with small skiffs. They later headed toward the Somali coast. Present location unknown. At the beginning of November 2010 in total at least five Yemeni fishing vessels are held by the Somali sea-gangs and a detailed report is awaited from the Yemen authorities.
MT OLIB G : Seized September 08, 2010. Reports from our local observers were confirmed by EU NAVFOR: Early on the morning of 8 September, the Greek-owned, Malta-flagged Merchant Vessel (M/V) MT OLIB G (IMO 8026608) - a Greek-owned chemical tanker - was pirated in the east part of the protected Gulf of Aden corridor. After having received a report from a merchant vessel that a skiff was approaching MV OLIB G, and after several unsuccessful attempts to make contact with the vessel, the USS PRINCETON warship of Task Force 151 launched its helicopter. The helicopter was able to identify two pirates on board MT OLIB G, the EU report stated. The MT OLIB G was sailing West in the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor en route from Alexandria to India through the Gulf of Aden - allegedly carrying only ballast. The Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC) is an area in which EU NAVFOR (Task Force 465), NATO (Task Force 508) and Combined Maritime Force (Task Force 151) coordinate the patrol of maritime transits. It is, however, not known yet if the vessel was involved in dumping or why it was just sailing with ballast. The MT OLIB G, deadweight 6,375 tons, has a crew of 18, among which are 15 Georgian and 3 Turkish. Crew and vessel are not covered by ITF Agreement. The vessel has as registered owners FRIO MARITIME SA and as manager FRIO VENTURES SA, both of Athens in Greece. The attack group is said to consist of people from the Majerteen (Puntland) and Warsangeli (Sanaag) clans, who had set out from Elayo. After the well timed attack - more or less synchronized with attacks on two other vessels - and the subsequent overpowering of the crew the vessel was then commandeered towards the Indian Ocean coast of Somalia, where it was first held near Eyl and then off Kulub. According to media reports the owner of the vessel initially offered a ransom of $75,000, but later raised it to $150,000. However, the sea pirates want no less than $15 million, a Press TV correspondent reported. Both sides seem to be not realistic. Vessel and crew are at present held approx. 38nm off Eyl at the North-Eastern Indian Ocean coast of Somalia and different reports about conflicts have been received.
MSV NASTA AL YEMEN : Reportedly seized on Sept. 14, 2010. Number of crew yet unknown, but presumed 9. Further report awaited from Yemen.
MT ASPHALT VENTURE : Seized September 28, 2010. The Panama-flagged asphalt tanker MT ASPHALT VENTURE (IMO 8875798) was captured on her way from Mombasa - where the vessel left at noon on 27. September, southbound to Durban, at 20h06 UTC = 23h06 local time in position 07 09 S 40 59 E. The vessel was sailing in ballast and a second alarm was received at 00h58 UTC = 03h58 LT. The ship with its 15 all Indian crew was then observed to have turned around and is at present commandeered northwards to Somalia. EU NAVFOR confirmed the case only in the late afternoon of 29. September. Information from the ground says a pirate group from Brawa had captured the vessel and at first it was reported that the vessel was heading towards Harardheere at the Central Somali Indian Ocean coast, while the tanker had first contact at the Somali coast near Hobyo and was then commandeered further north. The vessel is managed by ISM manager OMCI SHIPMANAGEMENT PVT LTD from Mumbai and owned by BITUMEN INVEST AS from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, who uses INTER GLOBAL SHIPPING LTD from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates as ship-handler. The Government of India and other authorities are informed. Concerning the condition of the crew so far no casualties or injuries are reported, but the vessel seems to have an engine problem. Vessel and crew are at present held off Kulub at the North-Eastern Indian Ocean coast of Somalia. Negotiations for a release have commenced.
FV GOLDEN WAVE 305 (sporting also the Korean name KEUMMI 305) : Seized October 09, 2010. The 241-to large South-Korean-owned but now apparently Kenyan-flagged fishing vessel, which had been transformed from an old merchant ship into a specialized fishing vessel, was already captured possibly in Somali waters, the East African Seafarers Assistance Programme (SAP) reported first.
The owners as well as the international navies kept mum until 17. October, when the British mastered Maritime Security Centre MSC(HOA) notified the case based on a statement by South Korea's Foreign Ministry.
Maritime observers working in Somalia with ECOTERRA Intl. had earlier confirmed that the vessel on that day was already held off the Central Somali coast off Harardheere (Xarardheere), from where then some movement again southwards was observed.
The owners, who had not reported the case earlier, said then that the position of the capture of the vessel and crew was 03:06S and 047:58E at 07h45 UTC (10h45 local) on 09. Oct. 2010 in the Somali Basin, which would be just 10 miles off the coast of Lamu on the north of the Kenyan coast and near the border with Somalia. But this report is highly questionable since local reports state that the vessel was boarded while inside the Somali waters.
However, ECOTERRA Intl. and SAP urged the Somalis to either open a formal and legal process to prosecute a case of illegal fishing, or to release the vessel, if there is evidence beyond any reasonable doubt that the ship and crew were not fishing illegally in Somali waters.
Since both countries, Kenya and Somalia have ratified the United Nations Common Law on the Sea (UNCLOS) since long, there is no doubt about the maritime boundary between the two states, despite the persistent haggling and attempts on higher levels to alter this.
The 241-ton trawler cum long-liner is very well known since many years for its poaching operations, which was confirmed also by the Malindi Marine Association in Kenya (MaMa-Sea) and ECOP marine, a group of marine protection specialists. The vessel had been illegally entering the Somali fishing grounds with impunity over many years and then usually kept hanging out at the North Kenya banks as well as even off Malindi in order to cover the traces of the illegal activities.
Though the judiciaries of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia as well as e.g. of the regional State of Galmudug still face serious problems, a legal process is possible everywhere in Somalia and not only in Somaliland and Puntland, where the international community has recognized the legal procedures and regularly hands over pirates arrested by the foreign navies into these systems, which even are sentencing people to death and execute the death penalty. Especially because there is an official moratorium on fishing by foreign-flagged vessels in Somali waters since 2008 firmly in place and no legal licences have been issued, the case must be dealt with in front of a court.
ECOTERRA Intl. spokesman Dr. Hans-Juergen Duwe called upon specialized legal organizations, judges and lawyers from benches in friendly nations to come forward and assist the Somali judiciaries in prosecuting such cases, which all too easily are otherwise then just brushed away as pure piracy and thereby kept away from the eyes of the legal eagles and the law - thereby encouraging other fish-poachers to copycat, since the risk to be captured by Somali coastguards or the real buccaneers is still rather minimal.
The vessel has a large crew of 43 seafarers with the South-Korean owner cum master and a South-Korean chief engineer as well as two Chinese officers and 39 Kenyans.
Their venture is specialized on scooping by pot-fishing the ever declining populations of coastal crab and rock lobsters, a delicacy for the top-market seafood restaurants the world over, as well as in long-line fishing for the high-priced yellow-fin tuna and Kingfish as well as the rare bill-fish like Marlin and Sailfish as well as the already endangered sword-fish. For the tuna-fishing it would also have to be registered with the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), but the vessel is not listed there - neither as Keummi 305 nor as Golden Wave.
Also in Kenya local fishing co-operatives as well as the associations of deep-sea anglers had complained since long about the detrimental activities of this specific vessel, which is persistently using illegal gear. While in the mostly unprotected waters of Somalia their clandestine deals usually were covered with a handful of dollars into the palms of some unscrupulous businessmen, local "authorities" or impoverished local fellows, they apparently also enjoy "protection" from certain cadres in Kenya. However, fishermen contacted at the Kenya coast today actually jubilated that this vessel had been finally captured by the Somalis.
The pirates haven't contacted the ship's agent in the south-eastern South-Korean port city of Busan for any possible negotiation, Yonhap news agency said. The fisheries company that owns the ship shut down its Busan head office due to financial troubles in 2007 and has been operating only with the Keummi 305, it said.
Reports state that Captain Kim Dae Gun himself, who is on board, is the owner of the vessel.
The vessel at first was brought to Harardheere and then moved south to be held around 90 nm south of Harardheere, but on 23. October was then observed by naval forces in the vicinity of the point where a LPG tanker was sea-jacked the very day 50nm off Mombasa. The shipping agent could not confirm if the Somalis left their pirate-taxi and it is therefore presumed she shall again be used as mother-ship in Kenyan and Tanzanian waters. Apparently the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) is now no longer operating. Vessel and crew are at present held on their vessel off Hobyo at the Central Somali coast. Negotiations have not yet started in earnest and families of the seafarers fear the vessel might again be misused for dangerous piracy operations under a human shield for which the crew is abused.
The Captain of the Golden Wave 305 is urgent need of medication, and the whole crew may lack food soon.
MV IZUMI (ISUMI) : Seized on October 10, 2010. The multi-purpose ship MV IZUMI (IMO 9414955) was captured while en route from Japan via Singapore to Kenya in Somali waters at 13h09 UTC in position 01 39S 042 05E, which is around 170 nautical miles (314 kilometers) south of Mogadishu, and has an all- Filipino crew of 20 seamen.
The ship, which has a deadweight of 20,170 tonnes, is owned by Japanese shipping company NYK-Hinode Line Ltd., one of the oldest shipping lines plying the routes from the Far East to East Africa, and is flying a flag of convenience from Panama. Managers are Fair Field Shipping KK [ Kaytaro G Sugahara]. In 1996, FCC was established in Conneticut/USA based Fairfield Group as a chemical principal occupation operator. Fairfield is part of Great American Lines Int'l, Inc., which was incorporated in 2004 in the U.S.State of Florida.
The MV IZUMI is a RoLo (roll-on lift-off), a hybrid vessel type with ramps serving vehicle decks but with other cargo decks accessible only by crane. The ship is under DIA S.A. contract and had been carrying steel products for the automotive industry from Japan via Singapore towards Mombasa, said its Tokyo-based operator NYK-Hinode Line.
While in the years back the company still had Japanese officers on board of their vessel, they have now all-Filipino crews despite the ban by the government of the Philippines to employ their nationals on routes endangered by piracy.
EU NAVFOR confirmed the case on 11. Oct. and reported the vessel at a position 170 miles (274 kilometres) south of the Somali capital of Mogadishu and as being commandeered northwards, while a Danish and the EU NAVFOR French warship FS FLOREAL were close by and were monitoring. Vessel and crew have been now commandeered to Xamdule (Hamdule) between Hobyo and Harardheere at the Central Somali Indian Ocean coast.
Japan's transport minister Sumio Mabuchi on Tuesday said Tokyo was "nervously" watching developments while cooperating with the International Maritime Organization in dealing with the suspected pirate attack.
Japan last year joined the United States, China and more than 20 other countries in the maritime operation against pirates who have attacked ships off the Horn of Africa, a key route leading to the Suez Canal.
Tokyo has also dispatched two maritime surveillance aircraft and scores of military personnel to beef up its anti-piracy mission, although their operations are restricted by the country's pacifist constitution.
Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force has deployed two destroyers to escort ships in the pirate-infested gulf, and said last month that it had so far provided safe passage for more than 1,000 ships.
The vessel is
The Ro-Lo hybrid vessel was then anchored two miles from the coast, 6 miles north of Haradheere for some time, but now MV IZUMI with her hostages as human shield is at present used as piracy launch. First it was used in an attack against the merchant vessel MV TORM KANSAS near Pemba Island on the boundary between Kenya and Tanzania and on 06. November the EU NAVFOR Spanish warship ESPS INFANTA CHRISTINA and her escort object, the AMISOM weapons-transporter PETRA 1, became a target off the East coast of Somalia. The vessel is still out hunting.
At 23h40 UTC on 24 Dec the pirated MV IZUMI was reported in position 06°30 N - 052°18E, cruising 245° at a speed of 13 kts conducting mother-ship piracy operations.
FV AL FAHAD : Seized October 11, 2010. Many more Iranian fishing vessel were over time actually held by Somali gangs than listed, since their cases and the fate of their sailors are not officially reported - neither by Iran nor the Western Navies.
Sources with detailed knowledge from Iran stated after the release of one Iranian fishing vessel without ransom but actually a reward paid to their captain for good assistance during piracy operations of other vessels at the end of October 2010, that at least one other Iranian fishing vessels is held at present near Garacad. How many were seized for illegal fishing in Somali waters or how many were sea-jacked just to use them as piracy launch or to press ransom could so far not clearly be established.
One Indian Navy vessel not involved in anti-piracy operations received a distress call from a merchant vessel pointing out it had spotted pirate skiffs with the Al-Fahad. The naval vessel on research mission intercepted on 10. December 2010.
"Six skiffs, with outboard motors, an AK-47 with ammunition, gas cylinders and fuel was found on board the dhow after it was intercepted... the pirate boat was then disabled," said an officer. Indian naval sources maintained that the Dhow had not been sunk.
According to those Indian naval sources there were 31 people on board. Unfortunately the Indian navy ship must not have realized that this was a sea-jacked vessel and let the Somalis and allegedly Yemeni men on board sail away after they destroyed the so called pirate-paraphernalia.
It also becomes obvious that crews collaborate with pirates to use their ships as transporters, pirate launches or even as attack vessels.
Allegedly the vessel flies now a flag from Yemen and Indian naval sources maintain the vessel was not sunk.
Though some naval sources in the region doubt the Indian report, the vessel therefore has to be kept on the list of sea-jacked ships.
MSV ZOULFICAR : Seized near Socotra on October 19, 2010. This is a motorized sailing dhow, which was captured near the Socotra archipelago. It must not be mixed with the case of Comorian MV ALY ZOULFECAR. Yemen authorities stated that it would not be a Yemeni vessel, but could possibly be from Iran. Further details awaited.
MT YORK : Seized October 23, 2010. The Singapore-flagged MT YORK (IMO 9220421), Liquid Petroleum Gas Carrier, had left Mombasa on 23. October in the morning at 06h00 en route to the Seychelles. The vessel was then attacked at around 17h30 local time (14h30 UTC) by two skiffs, approximately 98 nautical miles East of Mombasa in Kenya. The Turkish warship TCG GAZIANTEP, operating under the Combined Maritime Forces (Task Force 151) launched her helicopter to investigate and was able to observe pirates with weapons on board the vessel. The LPG Tanker is owned by Greek Interunity Management Corporation (IMC) and had just transported a cargo of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) to Mombasa.
Gerald Lim, a director of the ship owner York Maritime Company Private Ltd, said initially that there was no word on the ship or crew since it put out a distress call. After the attack the MT YORK was drifting but then began moving at 10 knots in the morning of 24. October, when then the Singapore-flagged LPG tanker,was finally confirmed pirated in the Somali Basin by EU NAVFOR. It seems that the South-Korean fishing vessel FV GOLDEN WAVE 305 (alias FV KEUMMI 305), captured from an illegal fishing trip in Somali waters on 9 October 2010, was used to sea-jack the MT YORK, which is under German-owned BERHARD SCHULTE Ship Management.
The tanker, with a dead-weight of 5,076 tons, has a crew of 17, including the German Master, two Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos. The vessel was commandeered towards Harardheere and Hobyo with a possible final holding ground off Garacad.
MSV AL-NASSR : Seized October 28, 2010 off Socotra.The motorized Dhow was captured on October 28, 2010 at 11h56 UTC (14h56 local time) in position 12:08N – 054:25E off Socotra Island, Somalia, according to the IMB Piracy reporting centre. Once a British protectorate, along with the remainder of the Mahra State of Qishn and Socotra and being a strategic important point, the four islands making the Archipelago of Socotra were accorded by the UN in 1967 to Yemen, though they are very close to the mainland of the tip of north-eastern Somalia. Several of the female lineages of the inhabitants on the island, notably those in mtDNA haplogroup N, are reportedly found nowhere else on earth. The Dhow with presently unknown flag and about 10 crew is heading now towards the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor of the Gulf of Aden (IRTC) and is likely to be used as pirate-base and decoy to capture a larger vessel. Further reports are awaited.
MT POLAR : Seized Oct. 30, 2010. Armed pirates in two skiffs boarded and sea-jacked the Liberian-owned product tanker MT POLAR (IMO 9299563) with 24 crew members aboard in the very early morning hours at 01h40 UTC (04h30 local time on 30. October 2010 in position 12:12N – 064:53E. The incident occurred according to the Piracy Reporting Centre 633nm east of Socotra island, off Somalia; or 684 miles (1,100 kilometres) east of the Indian Ocean island of Socotra according to EU NAVFOR. According to a EU NAVFOR statement the owners of the Panamanian-flagged 72,825 dwt vessel MV POLAR, Herculito Maritime Ltd, confirmed early Saturday that pirates are in command of the ship, which was en route from St. Petersburg and Kronstadt to Singapore with a cargo of fuel oil.
While it is undisputed that the ship originally 24 crew members, EU NAVFOR reported one Romanian, three Greek nationals, four nationals from Montenegro and 16 Filipinos, but according to the ICSW (International Committee on Seafarer's Welfare) there are three Greek nationals, 16 Pinoy seafarers, three from Montenegro and one Romanian as well as one Serb. In connection with this case AFP concluded that though naval powers have deployed dozens of warships to patrol the region's waters they have failed to stem piracy, one of the few thriving businesses for coastal communities in a country devastated by war and poverty. According to reports from Somalia the already sea-jacked Iranian fishing vessel from Hobyo was used to capture this vessel in tandem with covering VLCC SHAMHO DREAM. Allegedly the captain of the Iranian fishing vessel thereafter received money from the pirates and was released with his vessel and crew.
Paradise Navigation S.A. is a Panamanian registered company, established in Greece under law 89
Constantinos Tsakiris is the Chairmman and Managing Director of Paradise Navigation SA, a shipping management company established in Greece and founded back in 1968, as Navipower Compania Naviera SA, by the Tsakiris family, a traditional Greek ship-owning and operating family.
Constantinos Tsakiris is the Chairmman and Managing Director of Paradise Navigation SA, a shipping management company established in Greece and founded back in 1968, as Navipower Compania Naviera SA, by the Tsakiris family, a traditional Greek ship-owning and operating family.
MT POLAR had reached the Somali coast in the morning of 30. October and was held off Hobyo. On Monday, 22. November 2010 one Filipino seafarer was reported by the Seafarers Network from Greece to have died allegedly of a heart attack.
At 02h33UTC on 23 November 2010, MV POLAR was reported in position 07°49N 055°53E - apparently on a piracy mission.
At 19h40 UTC on 25. November 2010, MV POLAR was observed in position 09 29N 068 44E, course 258, speed 12.6 kts. The pirated vessel is conducting piracy operations, using the surviving crew members as human shield.
SY CHOIZIL : Seized 26. October 2010. South-African owned SY CHOIZIL was sea-jacked after having left Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Though news through the seafarer's network had broken much earlier, the case was officially only confirmed on 08. November. The yacht is owned and was sailed by South African skipper Peter Eldridge from Richards Bay on the northeast coast of KwaZulu Natal, who escaped after the yacht was commandeered to Somalia, while his South African team-mates Bruno Pelizzari (aka Pekezari), in his 50's, with partner Deborah from Durban were taken off the boat and are still held hostage on land in Somalia. Several questions remain still unanswered, though after the return of the skipper to South-Africa it was officially stated that the yacht had been abducted off Kenya this is still conflicting with other naval reports. Since the own yacht of the abducted couple is still moored at the harbour in Dar es Salaam it could well be that they only joined or actually hired skipper Eldridge first for a short trip north to Kenya.
Both present hostages, Bruno Pelizzari and his girlfriend "Debbie", Deborah Calitz, were on board when the yacht under the command of Peter Endrigde allegedly heading south to Richards Bay from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania on October 21 or 22. Together with the skipper and owner of the yacht, the trio were said at first to have then encountered the pirates on 31. October 2010 in the open sea.
At least one of the attacking pirates appeared to have been from Tanzania and spoke KiSwahili. However, the sloop rigged sailing yacht set up for long distance cruising was then commandeered to Somalia by five Somalis - apparently with the aim to reach Harardheere at the Central Somali coast.
When observers had on 04. November a sighting of a yacht near the Bajuni Island of Koyaama at the Southern coast of Somalia, the search for a missing yacht was on in order to identify the boat and the sailors, but neither the Seychelles nor the network of yachts-people reported any missing yacht, though at that point already even the involvement of a second yacht was not ruled out.
Navies were then trailing the yacht at least since 04. November.
The fleeing yacht was on 06. November forced by the pursuing navies to come close to Baraawa (Brawa). There the yacht had "officially" again been located by the EU NAVFOR warship FS FLOREAL when it was "discovered to be sailing suspiciously close to shore", so the statement. Despite numerous unsuccessful attempts to contact the yacht, including a flypast by the warship's helicopter, allegedly no answer was received and the French warship launched her boarding team to investigate further, a EU NAVFOR statement revealed and it was also officially stated that they had received a Mayday signal. Why only then the emergency call was sent and not much earlier, has so far not been explained.
After a direct chase by naval forces escalating the situation and the yacht running aground, SY CHOIZIL's skipper Peter reportedly jumped over board during a close naval swoop, when also shots were fired and a naval helicopter and a commando team in a speedboat were engaged. Other reports state the owner of the yacht, Peter Eldridge, managed to escape when he refused to leave the boat he built with his own hands 20 years ago. Officials now put it as "the yacht's skipper refused to cooperate" - usually a call for immediate and even deadly response in any hostage situation the world over where armed assailants are involved.
However, Peter Eldridge was later picked up by the French navy and was placed into safety on a Dutch naval vessel. He is confirmed to be a South-African by nationality and his next of kin were informed immediately. After he then arrived at the Kenyan harbour of Mombasa on board the Dutch warship, he was handed over to South African officials and brought to Kenya's capital Nairobi, from where he returned to South-Africa.
Peter Eldridge, who was a member of the Zululand Yacht Club which uses the Richards Bay Harbour as its base, stated later: "The yacht was attacked by pirates - all men aged between 15 and 50 - on October 26," and thereafter: "They demanded money. They took the money that Deborah and Pelizzari were carrying for their families. They demanded more and we told them that we did not have more because we were ordinary people."
Andrew Mwangura, co-ordinator of the East African Seafarers Assistance Programme, said earlier he assumed the yacht had been towed to Mombasa as could have been expected with all the naval presence, but at the same time ECOTERRA Intl. received information from their marine monitors in Somalia saying the yacht was left behind by the naval forces and was floating. Peter Eldridge's wife, Bernadette, told later the South African Times that she did not know whether her husband Peter would return to Somalia to retrieve what's left of his yacht, SY Choizil, which was run aground during the incident. It is, however, unclear how official statements and the owner himself can speak of "having resisted to the pirates" and insisting that he "was not leaving his yacht alone", when at the same time he must have left it to be rescued by the navy.
"We only can hope that the different reports speaking of the killing of one man, whereby at present nobody can say if that had been caused by the naval interaction or by the pirates or if it is mixed with another case, will turn out to be not correct at all," a spokesman from ECOTERRA Intl. said on 07. November and added: "and we hope and urge the local elders to ensure that the innocent woman and man will be set free immediately. Since the Al-Shabaab administration, who governs vast areas in Southern Somalia, where the ancient coastal town of Baraawe (Brawa) is located, had earlier openly condemned any act of piracy, it is hoped that a safe and unconditional release of the hostages can be achieved."
The naval command of the European Operation Atalanta stated on 09. November that the whereabouts of the other two crew members is currently unknown, despite a comprehensive search by an EU NAVFOR helicopter.
Karl Otto of the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Cape Town stated that the Department of International Relations and Co-operation was handling the hostage situation.
International Relations and Co-operation spokesperson Saul Kgomotso Molobi confirmed this on 10. November and said the pirates had not yet made any ransom demand.
While the families of the Durban couple are sick with worry while they wait to hear from the kidnappers, the skipper's wife said: "We have been restricted from giving out more information. I have been told not to say more," but did not want to reveal who had told her to keep quiet.
South African High Commissioner Ndumiso Ntshinga said he is in constant contact with authorities in Somalia who are involved in the search for Bruno Pelizzari and his girlfriend.
Ntshinga indicated that maybe the story that the were taken off Kenya - as the Seychelles had claimed - is not correct, by saying: "We have always believed that their reach was mostly around Somalia but if they are going to be going down to the Gulf of Mozambique then it is worrying," said Ntshinga. Naval sources not with EU NAVFOR had earlier stated the attack was at the boundary between Tanzania and Kenya while other naval sources had spoke of the boundary between Tanzania and Mozambique.
After two weeks into the crisis the South African government still stated only: "At this point in time we do not know where they are. We have instructed our consulate to handle the matter," foreign ministry spokesman Malusi Mogale told AFP.
Director of Consular Services at the International Relations Department, Albie Laubscher, said all they can do is wait.
"The situation is that we are expecting the pirates to make contact in some way or another."
Information from Somalia says that the couple was held then for a few days held firth south and then inside Brawa but thereafter was moved to an undisclosed location.
For the Government of South Africa Mr. Albie Laubscher, the director of consular services at the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, said the families of the Durban couple had been briefed that the hostage drama could be a long, drawn-out affair. He said it was government policy not to pay ransom.
The escaped skipper Peter Eldridge maintains that they had been sea-jacked off the Kenyan coast, but failed to explained why they were there instead on their planned route to the South from Dar es Salaam.
A friend of Pelizzari, Jason Merle, said the former elevator technician had decided about four years ago to sell his house and build a yacht. 'He and Debbie invested their lives in that boat, which is now docked in Dar es Salaam, waiting for them to come back to Tanzania,' Merle said. 'They don't have any money. Neither does the family. Ransom is going to be pointless. They're not going to get anything out of that couple. The only thing they have is that yacht and a laptop.'
The abducted yacht SY CHOIZIL is still held at the Somali coast, while the couple is now said to be held somewhere in the area of Somalia's embattled capital Mogadishu.
In an effort to send the message to pirates that Deborah is African born and should not be treated like a European or an American, Deborah's brother Dale van der Merwe has denied media reports his sister was of British or Italian descent.
'She does not have any British ties and has never set foot in Britain. We are worried that should her captors read this... it may skew their perception of who Debbie really is and try attach values to her as it was done in the case of the recently released British Chandler couple.'
He said the couple were 'ordinary workers'. They had been sailing for almost two years, stopping at ports on Africa's coast to 'visit and do occasional work'. See: http://yachtpals.com/node/12445
'Anyone who knows or meets them (including their captors) will see that they are gentle and kind people who are not interested in politics but only love sailing, ' he said and added 'Debbie and Bruno will help anyone regardless of their politics, religion, nationality or race, and frequently at their own cost. They are just fellow Africans who work hard and have a passion for sailing."
The family asked the couple's captors to keep them unharmed and release them back to their families and children, whom they have not seen for so long.
The Dutch Navy detained two groups of Somalis during the last week of November, believing those arrested could be involved in the abduction of Bruno Pelizzari and his girlfriend Deborah Calitz. The people on board of two different skiffs threw their guns overboard when they realised they were about to be attacked by a naval force. But only skipper Peter Eldridge would be able to confirm whether any of the suspects were involved in the attack. Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme said fishermen and coastal traders also carried weapons in these dangerous waters and the Dutch Navy could have the wrong men and add to the complications. The Kenyan and the South-African government had refused to accept the men for prosecution, since there was no evidence, and the Dutch Navy was for days in limbo - not knowing what to do with them. Then on 05 November five of these Somalis were flown on a military plane to Eindhoven, in the south of the Netherlands to stand trial in Rotterdam for abducting the two South Africans from their yacht. The five were among some 20 suspected pirates rounded up last month in two separate operations. The other 15 were released due to a lack of evidence at an undisclosed location and their case is seen by human rights lawyers as illegal arrest and possible refoulement.
After now more than one month the South African government maintains that no ransom demands have been made, but has not stated if there was no contact or if other demands were brought forward.
According to South African officials there was still no sign of the South African couple captured by pirates off the coast of Somalia at the end of November and Carte Blanche spoke to their Durban-based families, who are concerned that there've been no ransom demands.
International Relations spokesman Clayson Monyela said on 10. December that the kidnappers have yet to make contact with the South African government or the relatives of Bruno Pelizzari and his partner, Deborah Calitz.
It seems that the first contact possibilities were lost by the South-African officials.
The daughter of Mrs. Calitz also appealed to the captors to at least come forward and start talks on a release.
But after two months, on Thursday, 25. December 2010, Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Clayson Monyela still could only say: "There is nothing new on the South African couple who were hijacked by Somali pirates."
MV ALY ZOULFECAR : Seized November 03, 2010. The Comorian-flagged vessel a was pirated en route between the Comores and Dar Es Salam (Tanzania). The 43 meters long vessel was attacked in the morning of 3 November 2010 in position 05°15 S 043°39 E while in transit. Shortly thereafter the Master of the vessel reported that pirates were on board, EU NAFOR confirmed. The MV ALY ZOULFECAR has 29 people on board, of which 9 are crew members and 20 passengers. The crew consists of 1 Tanzanian, 4 Comorian and 4 Madagascar. The passengers consist of 12 Tanzanian and 8 Comorian. This makes a total of 13 Tanzanian, 12 Comorian and 4 Malagasy on board the pirated vessel. But it is said now that there is also a Kenyan woman on board. Though yet unconfirmed, latest reports speak of at least one casualty on board. The vessel is slowly commandeered North along the Somali Indian Ocean coast, she passed Hobyo and is expected to be taken to Garacad.
MSV AL BOGARI : Sighted November 7, 2010, as being hijacked, no further data
PAKISTAN MSV : Seized on November 9, 2010. The motorized dhow with a so far unknown number of crew was sea-jacked around 850nm east from the NE-coast of Somalia in the Indian Ocean and then used to capture the Tunisian merchant ship MV HANNIBAL II three days later in the same wider area. The authorities of Pakistan have been informed and further information about the name of the vessel etc. are awaited.
MT HANNIBAL II : Seized November 11, 2010 In the early morning hours the Tunisian-owned and Panama-flagged chemical and oil-tanker MT HANNIBAL II (IMO 8011756) with a crew of 31 was taken at 04h35 UTC in position 11:26N – 066:05E off the coast of India while sailing to Suez from Pasir Gudang, Malaysia - ferrying vegetable oil.
"The master of the vessel reported that he had been attacked and boarded by pirates in an area some 860 nautical miles East of The Horn of Africa which is considerably closer to India than it is to Somalia," EU Navfor said in a statement.
The 31 men strong crew of the 24,105 tonne double-hull tanker consists of 23 Tunisians, four Filipinos, a Croat, a Georgian, a Russian and a Moroccan.
GABES MARINE TANKERS SARL as ship-manager fronts for the owner POLO NAVIGATION LTD - both of Ez Zahra, Tunisia.
Reportedly the chief engineer of the vessel was slightly injured with a hit of a gun-butt during the attack and the ship had at first arrived near Garacad at the North-Eastern Somali coast of the Indian Ocean.
At 01h05 UTC on 23. November 2010 MV HANNIBAL II was reported in position 10°30N 059°04E - apparently on a piracy mission.
At 06h31 UTC on 26. November 2010 MV HANNIBAL II was observed chasing a merchant vessel in position 18°50N 061°23E, course 300°, speed 7.8 knots. The pirated vessel was conducting piracy operations but then came to the Somali coast again.
On 17. December a crew-member with a serious medial condition was successfully evacuated with the consent of the captors of the vessel and in a joined naval medivac operation led by a Thai navy vessel as well as the immediate medical treatment on a German warship. The crew member of the hijacked vessel MV Hannibal II, who was released by the pirates, has arrived at the Bouffard hospital in Djibouti after being treated for a suspected appendicitis after having been treated by medical staff on board the EUNAVFOR German warship FGS HAMBURG. He is now described as being stable and very happy to be free. Narrating his time as a hostage, he said: "We were all kept the whole time on the bridge of our ship. The only possibilities to move were the few minutes when we were allowed to go to eat. Most of the times we got some rice with fish." Like in other cases pirates had offered the sick man to be released without conditions, but this is the first time that the ship-owner, captain and crew played along. In other cases like when a Ukrainian woman had an abortion, neither the vessel owner nor even the Ukrainian parliament facilitated a possible medical evacuation.
The vessel was moored off Dinowda Quorioweyn not far from Garacad at the north-eastern Indian Ocean coast of Somalia, but apparently now has left for another piracy operation.
At 13h37 UTC (10h00 local time) on 27 December 2010, a Pirate Action Group consisting of pirated vessel Hannibal II acting as mother-ship was reported in position 15 10N - 056 22E with course 165 and speed 14 kts.
MV YUAN XIANG : Seized November 12, 2010. The Chinese-owned general cargo ship MV YUAN XIANG (IMO 7609192) carrying 29 sailors of Chinese nationality was seized during the night by an unknown number of pirates in the Arabian Sea in position 18:02.55N – 066:03.39E - around 680nm east of Salalah, Oman. An act of piracy was then confirmed on 12.11.2010 at 07h01 UTC.
According to the China Marine Rescue Centre (CMRC), the Chinese-owner-manager and Ningbo-based Hongyuan Ship Management Ltd (HONGYUAN MARINE CO LTD) in Zhejiang, China, had received a call just before midnight whereby the pirates informed that they were sailing the vessel owned by HONGAN SHIPPING CO LTD to Somalia.
The 22,356 dwt vessel flies a flag of convenience (FOC) from Panama, a flag-state who apparently even doesn't care when sailors are dying an unnatural death on their registered vessels.
The CMRC was reportedly unable to get in touch with the hijacked ship and the fate of the sailors remained unclear, Xinhua said, adding that the attacked occurred outside a region protected by a multinational forces, including China's navy. The vessel was for a certain time at Xabo (Habo) at the Gulf of Aden coast but was then commandeered around the Horn into the Indian Ocean and is at present held off Dhanane, south of Garacad at the Indian Ocean coast of Somalia.
FV DUL-NURAIN : Seized on November 17, 2010. The Yemeni fishing vessel was captured from Hurdia, which is 40 miles from Bargal. Allegedly a Somali Muse Ali Mohamud Warfa (aka Ilkacase) a Majerteen whose sub-clan is Osman Mohamoud and who served as fishing agent on that boat, was killed and was then burried by elders from the Isse Mohamud subclan. The vessel is at present held at Dhinawda which 60 miles to Garacad.
FV AL JEESH : Seized around November 18, 2010, maybe even together with FV DUL-NURAIN. Fish-poacher, now used as piracy launch.
COMORAN FV : Seized on November 18, 2010. The Comoros-flagged fishing vessel with a two man crew was confirmed sea-jacked inside the territorial waters of the Comoros. So far the identity of the vessel has not been released.
MV ALBEDO : Seized on November 26, 2010. The Malaysia-flagged box-ship MV ALBEDO (IMO 9041162) en route from Jebel Ali in the UAE to Mombasa in Kenya was boarded in the early morning hours and an alarm was raised at 03h00 UTC (06h00 LT) in position 05:38N – 068:27E, which is around 255 nm west of the Maldives group of islands. The master had reported to the Malaysian owners already on that fateful Friday that pirates were on-board and his vessel was hijacked. That information was then forwarded to to the navies. However, EU NAVFOR confirmed only 3 days later on mid-Monday that the vessel was captured. Why EU NAVFOR only reported so late is not known, but maybe because a Danish Navy frigate was sailing Saturday to the rescue of the German freighter MCL Bremen, a multi-purpose 130-metre freighter, which was nearby attacked by pirates. But following standard procedures, the whole crew barricaded themselves in a secret room and the attackers later left that vessel before the warship arrived and MLC BREMEN is reportedly sailing free.
The sea-jacked 1,066-TEU container vessel MV ALBEDO has a crew of 23 sailors. Six hail from Sri Lanka and others from Pakistan, Iran and Bangladesh. Registered owner and manager is MAJESTIC ENRICH SHIPPING SDN, which was incorporated on January 25, 2008 as a private limited company under the name of Majestic Enrich Sdn Bhd in Malaysia by Iranian shipping executives and on April 3 changed its name to Majestic Enrich Shipping Sdn Bhd.The vessel is held now south of Ceel Gaan at the Central Somali Indian Ocean coast off Harardheere.
FV KANTARI 12 : Seized before November 30, 2010. The vessel was used to capture FV LAKMALI and FV LAKMINI 03.
Since FV KANTARI 12 as well as FV LAKMINI 03 have arrived at the Somali coast, it is feared now that they will probably conducting mothership operations the 15North-60East area.
Further reports concerning the whereabouts of this vessel awaited.
FV LAKMINI 03 : Seized November 30, 2010. Sri Lankan 40 ft. fishing vessel FV LAKMINI 03 (Reg: IMUL-A-0453-KLT) was captured together with FV LAKMALI, which was then released, and taken hostage while in international waters and after they had gone fishing from Beruwala on November 20, 2010. The pirates launched the attack from another commandeered vessel - the FV KANTARI 12.
The crew consists of six Sri Lankans and in addition two abducted fishermen from the earlier release FV LAKMALI: Mr. Lal Fernando and Mr. Sugath Fernando.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry of Sri Lanka has requested their envoys in Nairobi / Kenya to follow up on these sea-jacking cases.
The present location of the vessel is not known.
MV JAHAN MONI : Seized December 05, 2010. The Bangladesh-flagged bulk carrier MV JAHAN MONI (IMO: 9102954) was sea-jacked by alleged Somali pirates position 08:12N – 071:55E, which is around 67 nm west of Minicoy Island and the merchant vessel was reported hijacked by six armed pirates and 26 people were taken hostage barely 70 nautical miles off the Indian Lakshadweep Islands. At 09h42 UTC on 05 December NATO reported the merchant vessel was under attack by pirates in 1 skiff in position 08°10N 071°43E. The vessel was attacked twice before being boarded by the heavily armed pirates and in an area, where a multi-ship task force of the Indian Navy was carrying out search operations in the Arabian Sea for pirate mother vessels. EU NAVFOR finally confirmed on 06 December that the bulker was pirated in the Somali Basin, approximately 1300 nautical miles East of Somalia, and only 300 nautical miles from the Indian mainland coast.
Apparently one of the previously sea-jacked fishing vessels was used to launch the attack.
The vessel was en route rom Indonesia with 43,150 tonnes of nickel ore on board to take them to Greece via Singapore.
It is owned by Mohammed Shajahan, owner of leading mild steel producing company KSRM and Bangladeshi shipping company Brave Royal. All people on board - 25 crew and one woman - are reported to be Bangladeshi.
The vessel was commandeered at a speed of 10 nautical miles towards the Somali coast and arrived there on Saturday 10. Dec. 2010 early morning, as was also confirmed by owner Mohammad Shahjahan for the owners and Rahmatullah, technical officer of Brave Royal Shipping Management Limited - the operating firm of the ship, confirmed - though they doesn't have contact yet. Marine superintendent of the company Captain Mohammad Golam Mostafa confirmed that the ship had been anchored at the east coast of Garacad.
Officials of SR Shipping Limited, the owning company of the hijacked ship, and its sister concern Brave Royal Shipping Management Limited held a meeting to chalk out the negotiation with the pirates, if they contact after reaching the shore.
The authorities could not yet contact with any of the crew or pirates. A satellite telephone to the ship on Saturday morning remained unanswered, Mostafa added.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has assured "all-out" support to free the vessel and crew, he said.
A senior Bangladesh Shipping Ministry official said: "Our first priority is to bring back the lady as soon as possible," referring to the wife of the chief engineer.
Mohammed Shahjahan, chairman of Brave Royal Shipping Management Limited that owns the ship, MV Jahan Moni, stated on Sunday, 12. December 2010, that the pirates put him through to the captain, chief engineer and the chief engineer's wife on telephone. They talked twice, at 2:30pm and at 7pm, he said. A serious conflict between two Somali groups, who claimed "ownership" of that vessel, broke out already before the vessel arrived at the Somali coast. It is held now off Dhanane, south of Garacad, at the Northern Somali Indian Ocean coast.
MSC PANAMA : Seized December 10, 2010. At 12h12 UTC (09h12 LT) on 10 December 2010 the U.S.-owned container vessel MSC PANAMA (IMO: 8902125) was reported to be under attack by an armed group of in total five sea-shifta in two skiffs on board in position 09°57S 041°46E. A Rocket Propelled Grenade was used during the attack which occurred approximately 80 nautical miles east of the Tanzanian/Mozambique border. On the afternoon of 10 December, the merchant vessel was then confirmed pirated and in position Latitude: 10°00S Longitude: 041°51E.
The boxship was en route from Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) to Beira (Mozambique) when the attack occurred.
This southerly attack in the Western Indian Ocean is a further example of the constantly expanding area of pirate activity, triggered by naval activities in the Gulf of Aden and close to the Somali shores and apparently also serving an agenda of implicating more and more regional countries. Apparently one of the the previously sea-jacked fishing vessels was used in the attack.
The 26,288 dwt MCS PANAMA is a Liberian flagged container ship, operated by SHIP MANAGEMENT SERVICES INC from Coral Gables Florida, a US based company and an affiliate of Ultrapetrol, fronting for registered owner EURUS BERLIN LLC. SMS shares an office, address, and employee roster with US-listed owner Ultrapetrol's management subsidiary, Ravenscroft Ship Management. It is said to be an Eastwind container ship, whereby it was noted that Eastwind Maritime Inc., a Marshall Islands Corporation filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in the Southern District of New York on June 24th, 2009 (Case No. 09-14047 - ALG).
The 1,743-teu box ship has a crew of 23 seafarers, who all are from Myanmar/Burma).
"The Somali pirates let the Burmese crewmen call their families three days ago. All said they were in good health and told their families not to worry about them," an official at the Rangoon branch of St. John's Ship Management said on condition of anonymity to Mizzima News.
Although the crewmen were not in mortal danger, they needed to keep their spirits up while being held by the pirates, Htay Aung, a central executive committee member of the junta-supported Myanmar Overseas Seafarers' Association, said.
The release of the MSC Panama and the crewmen would depend on the negotiations between the pirates and the company and such talks normally takes more than two months, Thai-based Seafarers' Union of Burma official Aung Thura told Mizzima. His union has been outlawed by the Burmese ruling military junta.
The vessel arrived in Somalia and is held now south of Ceel Gaan at the Central Somali Indian Ocean coast off Harardheere, close to MV ALBEDO.
MV RENUAR : Seized: December 11, 2010. As ECOTERRA Intl. reported the cargo vessel was captured on 11. December 2010 at around 05h40 UTC in position 06:09N – 067:19E, which is approximately 360nm SW of Minicoy Island, 1,200nm from Mogadishu in Somalia and 550nm off the Indian coast. On 13. November also NATO finally confirmed and stated the capesize bulker was captured at position Latitude: 06°11N Longitude: 067°25E. EU NAVFOR had earlier confirmed our reports on 12. December.
Panama-flagged MV RENUAR is a bulk cargo vessel with a dead-weight of 70,156 tonnes and was en route to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates from Port Louis in Mauritius when it was captured on Saturday, EU NAVFOR confirmed and stated: "The pirates have confirmed that they have control of the ship which is now heading west towards the Somali coast." The EU said it was a Liberian-owned vessel.
But Europe's best ship register states that CANDY ENT INC from Greece is the registered owner and MARYVILLE MARITIME INC from Greece the manager. Though the Greek ship register is notoriously in shambles, it is not known how EU NAVFOR did arrive at the conclusion that the vessel would be Liberian owned.
The pirates launched the attack from 2 skiffs, supported by a mother ship, with fire of small arms and rocket propelled grenades forcing the merchant vessel to stop. The bulker has a 24-man all-Filipino crew, who attempted to evade the pirates for some time, causing the pirates to make several attacks before finally boarding the vessel. One of the pirates had died during the attack - marine observers reported yesterday.
That at present more and more of the previously already captured fast fishing vessels are used to launch far-reaching attacks is widely known and analysts can not understand why these vessels are not tracked better by the navies.
The bulk carrier MV RENUAR (IMO9042221) is at present commandeered to the Somali coast, but naval centres stated that they had at that moment no communications with the ship and that the condition of the crew is not known.
The Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines said it was working to ensure the safety of 24 Filipino seafarers on board the Panama-flagged vessel MV Renuar. In a release posted on its website on Monday, the DFA's Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (OUMWA) said that it has instructed Capt. Gaudencio Collado, Philippine Liaison Officer to the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) in Manama, Bahrain to assist in the rescue efforts and that the European Union Naval Forces (EU NAVFOR) will attempt a rescue before the vessel, now en route to Somalia, reaches Somali waters.
Analysts, however, see such sabre-rattling as rather unfortunate and advised that the DFA should better look into the policy, which once had stopped Filipino seafarers from signing on with ships plying such dangerous routes.
DFA Undersecretary Esteban Conejos Jr. also instructed Collado to convey to the EU NAVFOR the Philippine Government's "paramount concern" for the safety of the Filipino crew members. The OUMWA likewise called on the Philippine Embassy in Athens to convey the same message to the vessel's Greece-based owner. The crew had locked themselves in a compartment but were later overwhelmed and the pirates are in control of the vessel. The captain contacted a humanitarian organization and reported that the crew is all right. The ship arrived on 20. December south of Garacad at the Northern Somali Indian Ocean coast.
MSV SALIM AMADI : Seized December 15, 2010. The motorized cargo dhow of most likely Indian origin was seized at 10h00 LT (07h00 UTC) some 70nm from Bosaso on her way from Dubai to this harbour town of the regional state of Puntland in Somalia. Number of crew and fate not known.
MV ORNA : Seized December 20, 2010. The UAE-owned, Panama-flagged bulker MV ORNA (IMO 8312162) was in the morning of 20. December 2010 at 08h29LT (11h29 UTC) reported under attack by pirates in position Latitude: 01°46S Longitude: 060°32E.The bulk carrier was under way to India from Durban and is laden with coal.
NATO reported that the attack was launched from 2 attack skiffs, with pirates firing small arms and rocket propelled grenades at the merchant vessel en route in the Indian Ocean, approximately 400 nautical miles North East of the island-state of the Seychelles. The vessel was stopped and boarded by at least 4 pirates.
The bulk carrier was then pirated, EU NAVFOR confirmed later and that the number o f crew on board was unknown.
The crew is co-operating and no damage is reported, the EU statement reads, which also stated that MV ORNA was not registered with the naval centres of MSCHOA or UKMTO.
The MV ORNA is a Panama flagged, UAE owned bulk cargo vessel with a dead weight of 27,915 tonnes.
The vessels safety management certificate had been withdrawn by Nippon Kaiji Kyokai already on 14. October this year and the crew is also not covered by an ITF agreement, but unlike other UAE-owned vessels it has still at least an insurance with Sveriges Angfartys Assurans Forening (Swedish Club). Ship manager SWEDISH MANAGEMENT CO SA in Dubai fronts for registered owner SIRAGO SHIPMANAGEMENT SA.There are 19 sailors on board and the crew comprises of one Sri Lankan and 18 Syrians.
The owner of Kassab Intershipping-Swedish Management, Capt Abdul Kadar, said that the cargo ship MV Orna was carrying 26,500 tonnes of coal from Durban, South Africa and was enroute to Okha, India, when it was hijacked.
The vessel is at present commandeered towards the Somali coast.
Capt Kassab said that "the ship is expected to reach the Somali waters by Friday and then only we can start negotiations. Past experiences show that the pirates start negotiations only after reaching their home country's shores."
YEMENI FV : Seized December 23, 2010. Somali pirates seized the Yemeni fishing vessel with four crew members around 120 nautical miles east of the Yemeni island of Socotra. Further details awaited.
MV THOR NEXUS : Seized December 25, 2010. In the early hours of 25 December, the general cargo vessel MV THOR NEXUS (IMO 8712491) was pirated approximately 450 nautical miles North East of the island of Socotra in the Indian Ocean. EU NAVFOR confirmed earlier reports, which had reached in the morning the East African Seafarers Assistance Programme in Mombasa.
The vessel was actually taken at 01h40 UTC (04h40 LT) in position 16°01 N - 060°12 E.
The 20,377 tonne general cargo ship, which is Thai flagged and owned, was on her way to Bangladesh from Jebel Ali in the UAE at the time of the attack. No details of the attack were known to EU NAVFOR at that stage
The 27 crew on board are all from Thailand.
The vessel is carrying 15,750 tonnes of fertiliser to Bangladesh, a director of the local agent of the Thai bulk carrier stated and explained that the government of Saudi Arabia was sending the fertiliser as part of an agreement with the Bangladesh government. Manjur Alam Chowdhury, director of Hai Shipping Limited, said the hijacked ship was carrying the last shipment of the agreed donation. The value of the fertiliser is Tk 44 crore, said Majharul Haq Milon, deputy manager (Chittagong region) of Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC). The ship was due to reach Chittagong on December 30.
THORESEN & CO BANGKOK LTD serves as ship manager of the vessel for THOR NEXUS SHIPPING in Bangkok, Thailand and its P&I insurers are The West of England Shipowners. Unfortunately the crew seems not to be covered by an ITF agreement. Pacific International Lines (PIL) incorporated in 1967 has developed from a coastal ship-owner/operator in Singapore to become one of the largest shipowners in Asia. Today, it is ranked 19th amongst the top container-ship operators in the world and owns 123 vessels. Their ship Kota Wajar was hijacked in the Indian Ocean last October by Somali pirates, served for a short while as prison for a kidnapped British sailor-couple, went on piracy missions and was held for more than 2 months before ship and crew were released.
Thailand's Ministry for Foreign Affairs is actively trying to help the crew aboard a Thai vessel seized by Somali pirates Friday in the Arabian Sea, a senior ministry official, Thani Thongpakdi the director-general of the foreign ministry's Information Department, said on Monday.
Mr Thani said the company owning the vessel has informed the families of the crew and asked the Royal Thai Navy to inform the special Thai naval task force combating piracy and armed robbery to closely monitor the affair.
The Royal Thai Navy earlier sent 350 Thai navy personnel on a 98-day operation as part of the international naval force combating piracy and armed robbery in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Somalia.
The director-general added that so far they have not yet told the ship owner of their demands for any ransom.
The foreign ministry has instructed the Thai embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and in Muscat, Oman to do the best of their abilities to help secure the release of the Thai crew, Mr Thani said, adding that both countries are believed to have influence over the waterways in the region and that they may have some channels to communicate with the pirates to help secure the release of the Thai nationals.
The commander also explained that the government policy in Thailand would not allow ransom pay to criminals.
Meanwhile, a source close to the Somali hijackers said the pirates would kill the hostages should Bangkok refuse to pay the ransom demanded, the report stated, showing a fake picture of an alleged pirate from the Far-East Malacca Straits area.
However, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the Royal Thai Navy had ascertained the position of the vessel and one of its craft had followed it at a distance. He asked the navy to be very careful for the sake of the crew's safety.
Actually, the pirates radioed HTMS Similan, which is operating in the Indian Ocean to protect Thai ships and is following the seized vessel, to say they would kill the crew of the Thor Nexus if the navy ship approached closer than 20 nautical miles.
Navy chief Kamthorn Phumhiran has ordered his subordinates in the Arabian Sea to take "decisive action" when they have a suitable opportunity - defined as the moment when officers have ascertained the safety of the Thai crew members.
Navy chief of staff Thagerngsak Wangkaew said helicopter surveillance had confirmed the 27 Thai crew members were being held on the bridge of their vessel to prevent an attack or rescue action. The surveillance revealed there were 12 armed pirates.
The vessel is at present commandeered towards Somalia.
FV SHIUH FU No. 1 : Seized December 25, 2010. At 10h30 UTC on 25. December 2010, the white hulled fishing vessel Shiuh Fu No.1 - CT7 0256 (ID58582) was reported by NATO as sea-jacked by pirates in position 12°58S - 051°52E and was at 11h15 UTC observed to act as mother-ship in position 12°58S - 51°51E, while cruising 293° at a speed of 1 kts.
Its 29 sailor crew consists of 1 Taiwanese, 14 Vietnamese and 14 Chinese.
The Republic of China flagged long-liner, owned by SHIUH FU FISHERY CO., LTD. of Kaohsiung in Taiwan is apparently licensed by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC NO. 900070256) to fish in these waters.
Further reports state that the vessel, which shows on it's side in large letters BI2256, was commandeered further south was observed on 26. December 2010 heading 172º with a speed of 10 knots at position 15°23'42.00"S, 52°14'45.60"E. The vessel has a powerful 1,200 HP engine and can run faster, which makes it a serious threat concerning possible pirate-attacks against merchant vessels in the area.
On 28. December the vessel maintained its strange patrol-like pattern along Latitude 52 on the North-Estern side of Madagascar.
MV EMS RIVER : Seized December 27, 2010. - see above.
The 22,356 dwt vessel flies a flag of convenience (FOC) from Panama, a flag-state who apparently even doesn't care when sailors are dying an unnatural death on their registered vessels.
The CMRC was reportedly unable to get in touch with the hijacked ship and the fate of the sailors remained unclear, Xinhua said, adding that the attacked occurred outside a region protected by a multinational forces, including China's navy. The vessel was for a certain time at Xabo (Habo) at the Gulf of Aden coast but was then commandeered around the Horn into the Indian Ocean and is at present held off Dhanane, south of Garacad at the Indian Ocean coast of Somalia.
FV DUL-NURAIN : Seized on November 17, 2010. The Yemeni fishing vessel was captured from Hurdia, which is 40 miles from Bargal. Allegedly a Somali Muse Ali Mohamud Warfa (aka Ilkacase) a Majerteen whose sub-clan is Osman Mohamoud and who served as fishing agent on that boat, was killed and was then burried by elders from the Isse Mohamud subclan. The vessel is at present held at Dhinawda which 60 miles to Garacad.
FV AL JEESH : Seized around November 18, 2010, maybe even together with FV DUL-NURAIN. Fish-poacher, now used as piracy launch.
COMORAN FV : Seized on November 18, 2010. The Comoros-flagged fishing vessel with a two man crew was confirmed sea-jacked inside the territorial waters of the Comoros. So far the identity of the vessel has not been released.
MV ALBEDO : Seized on November 26, 2010. The Malaysia-flagged box-ship MV ALBEDO (IMO 9041162) en route from Jebel Ali in the UAE to Mombasa in Kenya was boarded in the early morning hours and an alarm was raised at 03h00 UTC (06h00 LT) in position 05:38N – 068:27E, which is around 255 nm west of the Maldives group of islands. The master had reported to the Malaysian owners already on that fateful Friday that pirates were on-board and his vessel was hijacked. That information was then forwarded to to the navies. However, EU NAVFOR confirmed only 3 days later on mid-Monday that the vessel was captured. Why EU NAVFOR only reported so late is not known, but maybe because a Danish Navy frigate was sailing Saturday to the rescue of the German freighter MCL Bremen, a multi-purpose 130-metre freighter, which was nearby attacked by pirates. But following standard procedures, the whole crew barricaded themselves in a secret room and the attackers later left that vessel before the warship arrived and MLC BREMEN is reportedly sailing free.
The sea-jacked 1,066-TEU container vessel MV ALBEDO has a crew of 23 sailors. Six hail from Sri Lanka and others from Pakistan, Iran and Bangladesh. Registered owner and manager is MAJESTIC ENRICH SHIPPING SDN, which was incorporated on January 25, 2008 as a private limited company under the name of Majestic Enrich Sdn Bhd in Malaysia by Iranian shipping executives and on April 3 changed its name to Majestic Enrich Shipping Sdn Bhd.The vessel is held now south of Ceel Gaan at the Central Somali Indian Ocean coast off Harardheere.
FV KANTARI 12 : Seized before November 30, 2010. The vessel was used to capture FV LAKMALI and FV LAKMINI 03.
Since FV KANTARI 12 as well as FV LAKMINI 03 have arrived at the Somali coast, it is feared now that they will probably conducting mothership operations the 15North-60East area.
Further reports concerning the whereabouts of this vessel awaited.
FV LAKMINI 03 : Seized November 30, 2010. Sri Lankan 40 ft. fishing vessel FV LAKMINI 03 (Reg: IMUL-A-0453-KLT) was captured together with FV LAKMALI, which was then released, and taken hostage while in international waters and after they had gone fishing from Beruwala on November 20, 2010. The pirates launched the attack from another commandeered vessel - the FV KANTARI 12.
The crew consists of six Sri Lankans and in addition two abducted fishermen from the earlier release FV LAKMALI: Mr. Lal Fernando and Mr. Sugath Fernando.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry of Sri Lanka has requested their envoys in Nairobi / Kenya to follow up on these sea-jacking cases.
The present location of the vessel is not known.
MV JAHAN MONI : Seized December 05, 2010. The Bangladesh-flagged bulk carrier MV JAHAN MONI (IMO: 9102954) was sea-jacked by alleged Somali pirates position 08:12N – 071:55E, which is around 67 nm west of Minicoy Island and the merchant vessel was reported hijacked by six armed pirates and 26 people were taken hostage barely 70 nautical miles off the Indian Lakshadweep Islands. At 09h42 UTC on 05 December NATO reported the merchant vessel was under attack by pirates in 1 skiff in position 08°10N 071°43E. The vessel was attacked twice before being boarded by the heavily armed pirates and in an area, where a multi-ship task force of the Indian Navy was carrying out search operations in the Arabian Sea for pirate mother vessels. EU NAVFOR finally confirmed on 06 December that the bulker was pirated in the Somali Basin, approximately 1300 nautical miles East of Somalia, and only 300 nautical miles from the Indian mainland coast.
Apparently one of the previously sea-jacked fishing vessels was used to launch the attack.
The vessel was en route rom Indonesia with 43,150 tonnes of nickel ore on board to take them to Greece via Singapore.
It is owned by Mohammed Shajahan, owner of leading mild steel producing company KSRM and Bangladeshi shipping company Brave Royal. All people on board - 25 crew and one woman - are reported to be Bangladeshi.
The vessel was commandeered at a speed of 10 nautical miles towards the Somali coast and arrived there on Saturday 10. Dec. 2010 early morning, as was also confirmed by owner Mohammad Shahjahan for the owners and Rahmatullah, technical officer of Brave Royal Shipping Management Limited - the operating firm of the ship, confirmed - though they doesn't have contact yet. Marine superintendent of the company Captain Mohammad Golam Mostafa confirmed that the ship had been anchored at the east coast of Garacad.
Officials of SR Shipping Limited, the owning company of the hijacked ship, and its sister concern Brave Royal Shipping Management Limited held a meeting to chalk out the negotiation with the pirates, if they contact after reaching the shore.
The authorities could not yet contact with any of the crew or pirates. A satellite telephone to the ship on Saturday morning remained unanswered, Mostafa added.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has assured "all-out" support to free the vessel and crew, he said.
A senior Bangladesh Shipping Ministry official said: "Our first priority is to bring back the lady as soon as possible," referring to the wife of the chief engineer.
Mohammed Shahjahan, chairman of Brave Royal Shipping Management Limited that owns the ship, MV Jahan Moni, stated on Sunday, 12. December 2010, that the pirates put him through to the captain, chief engineer and the chief engineer's wife on telephone. They talked twice, at 2:30pm and at 7pm, he said. A serious conflict between two Somali groups, who claimed "ownership" of that vessel, broke out already before the vessel arrived at the Somali coast. It is held now off Dhanane, south of Garacad, at the Northern Somali Indian Ocean coast.
MSC PANAMA : Seized December 10, 2010. At 12h12 UTC (09h12 LT) on 10 December 2010 the U.S.-owned container vessel MSC PANAMA (IMO: 8902125) was reported to be under attack by an armed group of in total five sea-shifta in two skiffs on board in position 09°57S 041°46E. A Rocket Propelled Grenade was used during the attack which occurred approximately 80 nautical miles east of the Tanzanian/Mozambique border. On the afternoon of 10 December, the merchant vessel was then confirmed pirated and in position Latitude: 10°00S Longitude: 041°51E.
The boxship was en route from Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) to Beira (Mozambique) when the attack occurred.
This southerly attack in the Western Indian Ocean is a further example of the constantly expanding area of pirate activity, triggered by naval activities in the Gulf of Aden and close to the Somali shores and apparently also serving an agenda of implicating more and more regional countries. Apparently one of the the previously sea-jacked fishing vessels was used in the attack.
The 26,288 dwt MCS PANAMA is a Liberian flagged container ship, operated by SHIP MANAGEMENT SERVICES INC from Coral Gables Florida, a US based company and an affiliate of Ultrapetrol, fronting for registered owner EURUS BERLIN LLC. SMS shares an office, address, and employee roster with US-listed owner Ultrapetrol's management subsidiary, Ravenscroft Ship Management. It is said to be an Eastwind container ship, whereby it was noted that Eastwind Maritime Inc., a Marshall Islands Corporation filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in the Southern District of New York on June 24th, 2009 (Case No. 09-14047 - ALG).
The 1,743-teu box ship has a crew of 23 seafarers, who all are from Myanmar/Burma).
"The Somali pirates let the Burmese crewmen call their families three days ago. All said they were in good health and told their families not to worry about them," an official at the Rangoon branch of St. John's Ship Management said on condition of anonymity to Mizzima News.
Although the crewmen were not in mortal danger, they needed to keep their spirits up while being held by the pirates, Htay Aung, a central executive committee member of the junta-supported Myanmar Overseas Seafarers' Association, said.
The release of the MSC Panama and the crewmen would depend on the negotiations between the pirates and the company and such talks normally takes more than two months, Thai-based Seafarers' Union of Burma official Aung Thura told Mizzima. His union has been outlawed by the Burmese ruling military junta.
The vessel arrived in Somalia and is held now south of Ceel Gaan at the Central Somali Indian Ocean coast off Harardheere, close to MV ALBEDO.
MV RENUAR : Seized: December 11, 2010. As ECOTERRA Intl. reported the cargo vessel was captured on 11. December 2010 at around 05h40 UTC in position 06:09N – 067:19E, which is approximately 360nm SW of Minicoy Island, 1,200nm from Mogadishu in Somalia and 550nm off the Indian coast. On 13. November also NATO finally confirmed and stated the capesize bulker was captured at position Latitude: 06°11N Longitude: 067°25E. EU NAVFOR had earlier confirmed our reports on 12. December.
Panama-flagged MV RENUAR is a bulk cargo vessel with a dead-weight of 70,156 tonnes and was en route to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates from Port Louis in Mauritius when it was captured on Saturday, EU NAVFOR confirmed and stated: "The pirates have confirmed that they have control of the ship which is now heading west towards the Somali coast." The EU said it was a Liberian-owned vessel.
But Europe's best ship register states that CANDY ENT INC from Greece is the registered owner and MARYVILLE MARITIME INC from Greece the manager. Though the Greek ship register is notoriously in shambles, it is not known how EU NAVFOR did arrive at the conclusion that the vessel would be Liberian owned.
The pirates launched the attack from 2 skiffs, supported by a mother ship, with fire of small arms and rocket propelled grenades forcing the merchant vessel to stop. The bulker has a 24-man all-Filipino crew, who attempted to evade the pirates for some time, causing the pirates to make several attacks before finally boarding the vessel. One of the pirates had died during the attack - marine observers reported yesterday.
That at present more and more of the previously already captured fast fishing vessels are used to launch far-reaching attacks is widely known and analysts can not understand why these vessels are not tracked better by the navies.
The bulk carrier MV RENUAR (IMO9042221) is at present commandeered to the Somali coast, but naval centres stated that they had at that moment no communications with the ship and that the condition of the crew is not known.
The Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines said it was working to ensure the safety of 24 Filipino seafarers on board the Panama-flagged vessel MV Renuar. In a release posted on its website on Monday, the DFA's Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (OUMWA) said that it has instructed Capt. Gaudencio Collado, Philippine Liaison Officer to the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) in Manama, Bahrain to assist in the rescue efforts and that the European Union Naval Forces (EU NAVFOR) will attempt a rescue before the vessel, now en route to Somalia, reaches Somali waters.
Analysts, however, see such sabre-rattling as rather unfortunate and advised that the DFA should better look into the policy, which once had stopped Filipino seafarers from signing on with ships plying such dangerous routes.
DFA Undersecretary Esteban Conejos Jr. also instructed Collado to convey to the EU NAVFOR the Philippine Government's "paramount concern" for the safety of the Filipino crew members. The OUMWA likewise called on the Philippine Embassy in Athens to convey the same message to the vessel's Greece-based owner. The crew had locked themselves in a compartment but were later overwhelmed and the pirates are in control of the vessel. The captain contacted a humanitarian organization and reported that the crew is all right. The ship arrived on 20. December south of Garacad at the Northern Somali Indian Ocean coast.
MSV SALIM AMADI : Seized December 15, 2010. The motorized cargo dhow of most likely Indian origin was seized at 10h00 LT (07h00 UTC) some 70nm from Bosaso on her way from Dubai to this harbour town of the regional state of Puntland in Somalia. Number of crew and fate not known.
MV ORNA : Seized December 20, 2010. The UAE-owned, Panama-flagged bulker MV ORNA (IMO 8312162) was in the morning of 20. December 2010 at 08h29LT (11h29 UTC) reported under attack by pirates in position Latitude: 01°46S Longitude: 060°32E.The bulk carrier was under way to India from Durban and is laden with coal.
NATO reported that the attack was launched from 2 attack skiffs, with pirates firing small arms and rocket propelled grenades at the merchant vessel en route in the Indian Ocean, approximately 400 nautical miles North East of the island-state of the Seychelles. The vessel was stopped and boarded by at least 4 pirates.
The bulk carrier was then pirated, EU NAVFOR confirmed later and that the number o f crew on board was unknown.
The crew is co-operating and no damage is reported, the EU statement reads, which also stated that MV ORNA was not registered with the naval centres of MSCHOA or UKMTO.
The MV ORNA is a Panama flagged, UAE owned bulk cargo vessel with a dead weight of 27,915 tonnes.
The vessels safety management certificate had been withdrawn by Nippon Kaiji Kyokai already on 14. October this year and the crew is also not covered by an ITF agreement, but unlike other UAE-owned vessels it has still at least an insurance with Sveriges Angfartys Assurans Forening (Swedish Club). Ship manager SWEDISH MANAGEMENT CO SA in Dubai fronts for registered owner SIRAGO SHIPMANAGEMENT SA.There are 19 sailors on board and the crew comprises of one Sri Lankan and 18 Syrians.
The owner of Kassab Intershipping-Swedish Management, Capt Abdul Kadar, said that the cargo ship MV Orna was carrying 26,500 tonnes of coal from Durban, South Africa and was enroute to Okha, India, when it was hijacked.
The vessel is at present commandeered towards the Somali coast.
Capt Kassab said that "the ship is expected to reach the Somali waters by Friday and then only we can start negotiations. Past experiences show that the pirates start negotiations only after reaching their home country's shores."
YEMENI FV : Seized December 23, 2010. Somali pirates seized the Yemeni fishing vessel with four crew members around 120 nautical miles east of the Yemeni island of Socotra. Further details awaited.
MV THOR NEXUS : Seized December 25, 2010. In the early hours of 25 December, the general cargo vessel MV THOR NEXUS (IMO 8712491) was pirated approximately 450 nautical miles North East of the island of Socotra in the Indian Ocean. EU NAVFOR confirmed earlier reports, which had reached in the morning the East African Seafarers Assistance Programme in Mombasa.
The vessel was actually taken at 01h40 UTC (04h40 LT) in position 16°01 N - 060°12 E.
The 20,377 tonne general cargo ship, which is Thai flagged and owned, was on her way to Bangladesh from Jebel Ali in the UAE at the time of the attack. No details of the attack were known to EU NAVFOR at that stage
The 27 crew on board are all from Thailand.
The vessel is carrying 15,750 tonnes of fertiliser to Bangladesh, a director of the local agent of the Thai bulk carrier stated and explained that the government of Saudi Arabia was sending the fertiliser as part of an agreement with the Bangladesh government. Manjur Alam Chowdhury, director of Hai Shipping Limited, said the hijacked ship was carrying the last shipment of the agreed donation. The value of the fertiliser is Tk 44 crore, said Majharul Haq Milon, deputy manager (Chittagong region) of Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC). The ship was due to reach Chittagong on December 30.
THORESEN & CO BANGKOK LTD serves as ship manager of the vessel for THOR NEXUS SHIPPING in Bangkok, Thailand and its P&I insurers are The West of England Shipowners. Unfortunately the crew seems not to be covered by an ITF agreement. Pacific International Lines (PIL) incorporated in 1967 has developed from a coastal ship-owner/operator in Singapore to become one of the largest shipowners in Asia. Today, it is ranked 19th amongst the top container-ship operators in the world and owns 123 vessels. Their ship Kota Wajar was hijacked in the Indian Ocean last October by Somali pirates, served for a short while as prison for a kidnapped British sailor-couple, went on piracy missions and was held for more than 2 months before ship and crew were released.
Thailand's Ministry for Foreign Affairs is actively trying to help the crew aboard a Thai vessel seized by Somali pirates Friday in the Arabian Sea, a senior ministry official, Thani Thongpakdi the director-general of the foreign ministry's Information Department, said on Monday.
Mr Thani said the company owning the vessel has informed the families of the crew and asked the Royal Thai Navy to inform the special Thai naval task force combating piracy and armed robbery to closely monitor the affair.
The Royal Thai Navy earlier sent 350 Thai navy personnel on a 98-day operation as part of the international naval force combating piracy and armed robbery in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Somalia.
The director-general added that so far they have not yet told the ship owner of their demands for any ransom.
The foreign ministry has instructed the Thai embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and in Muscat, Oman to do the best of their abilities to help secure the release of the Thai crew, Mr Thani said, adding that both countries are believed to have influence over the waterways in the region and that they may have some channels to communicate with the pirates to help secure the release of the Thai nationals.
According to a report released by Iranian station PressTV, authorities in Thailand have threatened the Somali pirates with a crushing attack should they refuse to release the hijacked Thai-flagged cargo ship.
An unnamed top military commander in Thailand called on the pirates to release the vessel, warning that the Thai army would attack the pirates and release the ship and all its crew members, a Press TV correspondent reported. The commander also explained that the government policy in Thailand would not allow ransom pay to criminals.
Meanwhile, a source close to the Somali hijackers said the pirates would kill the hostages should Bangkok refuse to pay the ransom demanded, the report stated, showing a fake picture of an alleged pirate from the Far-East Malacca Straits area.
However, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the Royal Thai Navy had ascertained the position of the vessel and one of its craft had followed it at a distance. He asked the navy to be very careful for the sake of the crew's safety.
Actually, the pirates radioed HTMS Similan, which is operating in the Indian Ocean to protect Thai ships and is following the seized vessel, to say they would kill the crew of the Thor Nexus if the navy ship approached closer than 20 nautical miles.
Navy chief Kamthorn Phumhiran has ordered his subordinates in the Arabian Sea to take "decisive action" when they have a suitable opportunity - defined as the moment when officers have ascertained the safety of the Thai crew members.
Navy chief of staff Thagerngsak Wangkaew said helicopter surveillance had confirmed the 27 Thai crew members were being held on the bridge of their vessel to prevent an attack or rescue action. The surveillance revealed there were 12 armed pirates.
The vessel is at present commandeered towards Somalia.
FV SHIUH FU No. 1 : Seized December 25, 2010. At 10h30 UTC on 25. December 2010, the white hulled fishing vessel Shiuh Fu No.1 - CT7 0256 (ID58582) was reported by NATO as sea-jacked by pirates in position 12°58S - 051°52E and was at 11h15 UTC observed to act as mother-ship in position 12°58S - 51°51E, while cruising 293° at a speed of 1 kts.
Its 29 sailor crew consists of 1 Taiwanese, 14 Vietnamese and 14 Chinese.
The Republic of China flagged long-liner, owned by SHIUH FU FISHERY CO., LTD. of Kaohsiung in Taiwan is apparently licensed by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC NO. 900070256) to fish in these waters.
Further reports state that the vessel, which shows on it's side in large letters BI2256, was commandeered further south was observed on 26. December 2010 heading 172º with a speed of 10 knots at position 15°23'42.00"S, 52°14'45.60"E. The vessel has a powerful 1,200 HP engine and can run faster, which makes it a serious threat concerning possible pirate-attacks against merchant vessels in the area.
On 28. December the vessel maintained its strange patrol-like pattern along Latitude 52 on the North-Estern side of Madagascar.
MV EMS RIVER : Seized December 27, 2010. - see above.
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CLARIFICATION AWAITED:
INDIAN AUTHORITIES REQUESTED TO STOP THIS BLOCKADE-BREAKING SMUGGLER
ALERT: ILLEGALLY OPERATING VESSEL WITH CRIMINAL RECORD IN SOMALI WATERS
Further reports on action awaited from the Governments of India and the United Arab Emirates.
MSV SEA QUEEN, the Indian-owned and registered but UAE flagged motorized merchant Dhow was at first also by naval sources reported as having been captured again outside Kismaayo in Southern Somalia on 23. October 2010. But Mr. Jagdip Ayachi, who operates as the vessel's handler out of the United Arab Emirates and sometimes also poses as the owner of the Dhow maintains that it is not under duress in the moment.
According to reports the charcoal-laden ship had been attacked by two skiffs at 10h11 local time (13h11 UTC) on 23. October 2010 and observers stated that the Indian flagged Dhow SEA QUEEN (MSI Number: 419956127) was loaded with charcoal in position 00.23.13S/42.35.58E, outside Kismaayo, when it was pirated by a gang arriving in 2 skiffs. Thereafter the latest position of MSV SEA QUEEN was at 16:19:36 (UTC) on 23OCT10 at position 00.24.48S/42.38.29E.
The fact that she then was heading from 00.23 to 00.24 South (both positions already south of Kismaayo and with course towards the Kenyan border) could be an indication that they are involved in some other business all-together and that it might not be a sea-jack but a taxi-ride or some other purpose behind it, like weapons- or precious-stones-smuggling, transport of Al-Shabaab fighters to these islands there or similar clandestine and illegal activities.
Since that vessel and crew were taken already in April in a flurry together with other blockade breaking Dhows. which probably also resembled a quarrel or fall-out among certain players, it could very well be something like that this time too. But for the moment we presume that this specific blockade-breaker is doing illegal business together with Somali criminals.
This vessel clearly not only violates the legal regulations of the transitional federal government (TFG) of Somalia, which clearly stipulate that Kismaayo is not a port of entry for foreign flagged vessels and obviously is a crime-ship since it exports illegally charcoal from Somalia, but since it is also fact that the vessel has a registration issued by the Indian Government it violates blatantly and persistently the ban imposed at the beginning of the year on all Indian registered merchant dhows which clearly rules that it is not permitted for any of these vessels to ply the waters south and west of a line joining Salalah (Oman) and Malé (Maldives).
If the Indian government as well as the authorities now still will do nothing to once and for all stop the criminal activities of this vessel MSV SEA QUEEN, it will become obvious that they protect these blockade breakers, smugglers and thieves and thereby aide the dealings of organizations like the Al-Shabaab, which is officially listed as a terrorist group, because without their colluding consent the vessel never could have even entered Kismaayo in the first place.
Kenyan security organs have now been informed about this vessel and the government of the United Arab Emirates was urged again to finally forbid the import of illegal charcoal exports from Somalia, which at least would show that the UAE recognizes the laws of Somalia and assists Somalia in their enforcement.
Boat with five fishermen goes missing in Arabian sea
A fishing boat with five fishermen on board has gone missing in the rough sea, 160 nautical miles from the Okha port of the district, police said on 16. November 2010. A complaint registered with the marine police station of Okha said that contact with the boat that had gone for fishing was lost from Sunday.The sea has been rough for the last few days and the state government had warned fishermen not to venture into the ocean.The police along with Coast Guard has began search for the missing boat and fisherman.
OTHER CASES NOT COMPLETELY CLOSED:
- please see: Status of not yet resolved Maritime Incidences off Somalia
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THIS INFORMATION IS ALSO A WARNING TO VESSELS TRAVERSING THE SOMALI BASIN TO BE AWARE OF LARGER VESSELS BEING USED AS LAUNCHING PAD AND DECOY FOR PIRACY ATTACKS .
All vessels navigating in the Indian Ocean are advised to consider keeping East of 60E when routing North/South and to consider routing East of 60E and South of 10S when proceeding to and from ports in South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya.
The Indian Government has issued a NOTICE on 30th March 2010: All Indian-flagged motorized sailing vessels are - with immediate effect - no longer permitted to ply the waters south and west of a line joining Salalah (Oman) and Malé (Maldives).
NOTIFICATION BY THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT
- Issued by The Directorate General of Shipping, Mumbai.
DIRECTIONS 31. March 2010
The Directorate has issued directions prohibiting the trading of mechanized sailing vessels south and west of the line joining Salalah and Male, with immediate effect.
NON-MARITIME HOSTAGE CASES IN SOMALIA:
Missing:
Briton Murray Watson and Kenyan Patrick Amukhuma are missing since 01. April 2008. They were working on a U.N.-funded project in the Juba valley, were seized by gunmen near Bua'le and taken to Jilib, 280 km (175 miles) south of Mogadishu. Media reports until November 2010 maintained they are still being held and close sources reveal that the case is one of a so far Unsuccessful Resolution with no independent proof of live since a long time. While, based on reports from the ground, it could be assumed that Patrick Amukhuma had died, the meanwhile penniless Kenyan-Somali spouse with 3 children of Mr. Watson appealed as recently as October 2010 again for the release of the British researcher.
Political hostage:
French officer Denis Allex. Somali gunmen kidnapped two French security advisers working for the Somali TFG government from the Sahafi Hotel in Mogadishu on July 14 2009. Police said one escaped on Aug. 26 after killing three of his captors, but Marc Aubriere denied killing anyone and said he slipped away while his guards slept. A video released by Al Shabab was showing the second officer still being held and political demands for his release were made by Al Shabab. On June 9, 2010 the video appeared on a website often used by Islamist militant groups, which said the hostage, named as Denis Allex, had issued a "message to the French people". The video showed the captive in an orange outfit with armed men standing behind him.
France has received "proof of life" of one of its secret agents held hostage in Somalia since July 2009, the French foreign intelligence service DGSE said on Tuesday, 27. December 2010..
A DGSE source said the service had received "a reply to a personal question" to which Denis Allex, a French secret agent kidnapped by an Islamist group on July 14, 2009, was able to respond, proving he was alive.
"No detail was given by his captors on the state of his health nor on his location or the conditions in which he is being held," the source added.
"No detail was given by his captors on the state of his health nor on his location or the conditions in which he is being held," the source added.
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For 2010 the recorded account around the Horn of Africa stands at 242 incidences with 201 direct attacks by Somali sea-shifta resulting in 73 sea-jackings on the one side and on the other the sinking of one merchant vessel (MV AL-ABI ) by machine-gun fire from the Seychelles's coastguard boat TOPAZ (11 Somalis now jailed for 10 years in the Seychelles) as well as the wrongful attack by the Indian navy on an innocent Yemeni fishing vessel and the sinking of FV SIRICHAI NAVA 11 with many injured sailors and at least five people from the vessel and 8 attackers dead. Sea-jacked MV AL-ASSA - without its original Yemeni crew - was used as pirate vessel and likewise sunk while the Somali captors allegedly were released on land. In addition four Somali fishermen were killed by naval helicopter, which the navies cowardly never identified, at Labad north of Hobyo and one fisherman has killed by AMISOM forces near Mogadishu harbour.
The naval alliances had since August 2008 and until May 2010 apprehended 1090 suspected pirates, detained and kept or transferred for prosecution 480, killed at least 64 and wounded over 24 Somalis. (Actual independent update see: EXCLUSIV - whereby it must be stated that while trying to keep up with the killings and arrests, the deportations of Somalis or cases where they were set out again without supplies to face sure death on the ocean - like the Russians did in at least one case, is due to the in-transparency of the navies extremely difficult and hard to keep track). It must, be noted that most navies have become since the beginning of 2010extremely secretive and do neither report properly to the Somali government nor through their media outlets on the real number of casualties and injuries.
Not well documented cases of absconded vessels are not listed in the sea-jack count until clarification. Several other vessels with unclear fate (although not in the actual count), who were reported missing over the last ten years in this area, are still kept on our watch-list, though in some cases it is presumed that they sunk due to bad weather or being unfit to sail or like the S/Y Serenity, MV Indian Ocean Explorer were sunk to cover their drug-smuggling activities. Present multi-factorial risk assessment code: GoA: RED / IO: RED (Red = Very much likely, high season; Orange = Reduced risk, but very likely, Yellow = significantly reduced risk, but still likely, Blue = possible, Green = unlikely). Piracy incidents usually degrade during the monsoon season and rise gradually by the end of the monsoon. Starting from mid February until early April as well as around October every year an increase in piracy cases can be expected. With the onset of the monsoon winds and rough seas piracy cases decline.
If you have any additional information concerning the cases, please send to office[at]ecoterra-international.org - if required we guarantee 100% confidentiality.
For further details and regional information see the Somali Marine and Coastal Monitor and the updated map of the PIRACY COASTS OF SOMALIA. See the archive at www.australia.to and news on www.international.to
EMERGENCY HELPLINE: sms/call +254-719-603-176 / +254-714-747-090
East Africa ILLEGAL FISHING AND DUMPING HOTLINE: +254-714-747-090 (confidentiality guaranteed) - email: office[at]ecoterra.net
EA Seafarers Assistance Programme : Call: +254-734-437838 or +254-714-747090 or SMS to +254-738-497979
ECOTERRA Intl. is an international nature protection and human rights organization, whose Africa offices in Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania also monitor the marine and maritime situation along the East African Indian Ocean coasts as well as the Gulf of Aden. ECOTERRA is working in Somalia since 1986 and does focus in its work against piracy mainly on coastal development, marine protection and pacification. ECOP-marine is an ECOTERRA group committed to fight against all forms of crime on the waters.
N.B.: This status report is mainly for the next of kin of seafarers held hostage, who often do not get any information from the ship-owners or their governments, and shall serve as well as clearing-house for the media. Unless otherwise stated it is for educational purposes only. Request for further details can be e-mailed to: somalia[at]ecoterra.net (you have to verify your mail). Our reporting without fear or favour is based on integrity and independence.
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