Posted on 08/06/2005 5:45:19 AM PDT by nuconvert
Somali hijackers to release ship, hostages -WFP
Sat Aug 6, 2005
By Andrew Cawthorne
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Somali pirates who have held 10 hostages for more than a month on a ship chartered by the U.N. World Food Programme to carry food aid have agreed to release the vessel and free the crew, the WFP said on Saturday.
"An agreement has been reached for the release of the ship, crew and food in the next three days," WFP spokeswoman Rene McGuffin told Reuters in Nairobi.
The Somali militiamen hijacked the MV Semlow on June 27 as it headed for the northern port of Bossaso carrying 850 tonnes of rice donated by Japan and Germany for post-tsunami relief to the Horn of Africa nation.
The pirates had initially demanded a $500,000 (281,000 pound) ransom for the eight Kenyan crew members, Sri Lankan captain and Tanzanian engineer. They then reduced that to demand only the rice.
WFP said agreement was reached at a meeting on Friday in Jowhar -- the seat of the new Somali government -- between diplomats, local leaders and WFP country director Robert Hauser.
"We are tremendously grateful to the Somali Transitional Federal Government and the Kenyan ambassador for their combined efforts to ensure that the vessel, the food, and most importantly the ten-member crew who have suffered greatly during this ordeal will be released unconditionally," Hauser said.
The WFP statement said the ship would discharge the rice in El Maan, a port to the north of Somali capital Mogadishu, for distribution in central regions of Somalia.
It would then return to its base in Mombasa, Kenya.
Kenyan Ambassador Mohamed Abdi Affey confirmed the deal to Reuters.
"I'm very happy because we worked hard to get our nationals out. But it is not over until it's over," he said.
The pirates, however, were satisfied with the agreement to distribute the food in central Somalia, Affey said in Nairobi.
Somalia has been synonymous with insecurity since warlords overran the country of approximately 10 million in 1991, carving it into fiefdoms after ousting dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
The International Maritime Bureau classes Somali waters as some of the world's most dangerous, with frequent hijackings.
Probably a UN Hijack for ransom scheme.
Now, that is right white of them.
Sometimes I get the feeling God is trying to tell the world to just let those people starve, as they deserve it.
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