Published: Sep 6, 2005 MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Somali pirates holding 48 Asian fishermen and their three vessels hostage have sharply reduced their ransom demand during government-brokered negotiations, a Somali human rights activist said Tuesday.
Posted on 09/06/2005 3:57:18 PM PDT by TheOtherOne
Somali Pirates Reduce Ransom Demand for Asian Fishermen
Published: Sep 6, 2005 MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Somali pirates holding 48 Asian fishermen and their three vessels hostage have sharply reduced their ransom demand during government-brokered negotiations, a Somali human rights activist said Tuesday.
The gunmen originally demanded $500,000 for each boat and its crew, but later cut the demand to $50,000 apiece during talks with the Malaysian agent for the Taiwanese trawlers, said Ali Bashi, chairman of the Fanole Human Rights Center.
The hostages, who have been held by the pirates near the southern Somali port of Kismayo since Aug. 15, include three Taiwanese captains and 45 crew members from Indonesia, China, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Somali Foreign Affairs Minister Abdullahi Sheik Ishmail acknowledged that negotiating ransom could damage the country's already poor international image, but said officials had to act to ensure the safety of foreign hostages.
Piracy is common along the coast of this chaotic country. Several ships a month are attacked or hijacked, with valuables stolen and crews held for ransom. The MV Semlow, a ship carrying World Food Program supplies to Somali victims of last December's tsunami, has been held by gunmen since late June.
Rene McGuffin, a Kenya-based WFP spokeswoman, said via e-mail Tuesday the U.N. organization continued to call for "the immediate release of the MV Semlow, its crew and its cargo."
The London-based International Maritime Bureau, which tracks piracy around the world, said last month that piracy off Somalia was increasing "at an alarming rate," with 20 incidents reported since March, compared to just two in 2004. IMB director Pottengal Mukundan said Tuesday the reasons for the increase were unclear.
"It's unusual, but there's no doubt that there's been a very large number of vessels attacked," Mukundan said. The marine bureau was advising vessels to stay at least 150 miles off the eastern and northeastern Somali coast.
The deal for the Asian fisherman is being brokered by officials in Somalia's transitional government, Bashi said.
Taiwanese officials had asked for international help in contacting the gunmen and talked to the hostage-takers last week in an effort to negotiate a lower ransom.
Somalia has been without an effective central government since clan-based warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. Warlords then turned on each other, plunging the country of 7 million into chaos.
A transitional government raised some hope, but its members quickly split over where the government should be based and whether it needs peacekeepers from neighboring countries to help establish order.
AP-ES-09-06-05 1721EDT
lol...
Need to send a couple of frigates and the marines. The Somali Coast isshould be no tougher than the Barbary Coast.
I don't see the USA wasting one more life on Somalia for many many years to come.
ARGH!
Turn that county into a National Park.
The Somalis are just doing their part to reduce global warming.
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