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via translation - France calls for "international force" against maritime piracy TOKYO - France calls for the creation of an "international force" under a UN mandate to combat acts of piracy at sea, such as the diversion of Ponant by Somalis, said Saturday french Prime Minister Francois Fillon you! a visit to Japan. "We are going to ask that under UN mandate an international force, to which France is naturally ready to participate, to work towards the safety and security of maritime transport in the region, as in the Malacca Strait," said M . Fillon in a speech before the...

SOMALIA: 6 PIRATES ARRESTED AFTER THE SEIZURE OF "PONANT" (AGI) - Paris, 11 April. - Some of the pirates who took part in the seizure of the French yacht "Ponant" off Somalia were arrested soon after the freeing of 30 members of the crew who had been taken hostage. This statement was released by the General Jean-Louis Goergelin of the French armed forces. The arrest of six pirates took place one hour after the release of the hostages, once the thirty members of the crew were landed. The six pirates were held aboard a French ship.

PARIS (Reuters) - French commandos seized six pirates in Somalia on Friday during a daring helicopter raid launched shortly after the bandits had released the 30-strong crew of a luxury yacht hijacked last week. French officials said the owners of the yacht paid a ransom to obtain the freedom of the crew and as soon as it was clear that they were all safe, the commandos went into action aboard helicopters to track down the pirates. A district commissioner in Somalia told Reuters that five local people had died in the attack, but the French military denied killing anyone in...

The mayor of a small coastal village in northern Somalia dismissed media reports that the 288 feet French luxury yacht Le Ponant hijacked by pirates on Friday Apr. 4 in the Gulf of Aden has anchored near the village of Eyl, 500ikm north of the Somali capital Mogadishu. Abdullahi Said O'Yusuf, the mayor of Eyl, told Africa’s Radio Garowe last night that the hijacked French yacht had passed Eyl and headed south towards coastal waters off the region of Mudug, in central Somalia. Initial reports were that the French yacht and its 32-member crew had docked near the coastal...

PARIS — Elite French troops were headed to East Africa to bolster efforts to free captives of a yacht held by pirates off Somalia, a French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said today. A team of the GIGN, a commando force that conducts anti-terrorist and hostage rescue operations, was being sent to Djibouti to "reinforce" negotiation teams in place, spokeswoman Pascale Andreani said in an online briefing. Pirates seized the yacht, called Le Ponant, in the Gulf of Aden on Friday. It was carrying 30 crew members, including 22 French citizens, but no passengers. French officials made contact with the pirates overnight....

MOGADISHU, Somalia: A French luxury yacht seized by pirates in the Gulf of Aden with 30 crew on board has arrived in northern Somalia, officials and fishermen said Sunday.

Pirates seized control of a French cruise ship Friday off the coast of Somalia, France's Foreign Ministry said. A ministry official said details about the attack were scarce, and it was not clear how many crew members were on board the ship or if there were any passengers. The ship is in the high seas in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Somalia in the Indian Ocean. The official declined to identify the vessel or its owner. The ministry has set up a crisis center to deal with the situation, said the official, who asked not to be...

Pirates seized control of a French vessel carrying 30 crew members Friday off the coast of Somalia, the French government and the ship's owner said. Attackers stormed aboard "Le Ponant" as it returned without passengers from the Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean, toward the Mediterranean Sea, said officials with French maritime transport company CMA-CGM. The corporate officials said they were in close contact with the French Foreign Ministry, which said in a statement that a cruise boat and its crew had been attacked by pirates. The ship was in the high seas in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast...

The Le Ponant pleasure yacht was seized Friday in international waters opposite Somalia without passengers on route from the Seychelles to Aden Port and the Mediterranean after its first pleasure trip of the summer season in the Indian Ocean. The 32-man crew was taken hostage. Our shipping correspondent reports that the French Le Commandant Rouen warship was diverted from NATO’s Afghanistan operation to join the Yemeni coast guard in the hunt for and rescue of the captured craft. The Le Ponant caters to 64 high-profile luxury tourists, one of three owned by Le Compagnie Des Iles du Ponant, a...