KIEV, Ukraine -- The Ukrainian embassy in Kenya said it is checking media reports that a Ukrainian-crewed ship was seized by pirates on Saturday.
Earlier media reported that Somali pirates had seized a Maltese-flagged cargo vessel owned by British company Seven Seas Maritime Ltd. The Ariana, which was attacked in the Indian Ocean, is reported to be carrying UN equipment."The consular service department of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has instructed the Ukrainian embassy in Kenya to check the information [regarding the ship seizure] and get all the details," a press spokesperson said.Reuters cited a pirate, who called himself Hussein, as saying "We have hijacked a ship carrying industrial equipment including white cars with the UN logo."A Ukrainian cargo ship was seized by Somali pirates in September 2008. The Faina was only released in February after the pirates received a $3.2 million ransom.Around 20 warships from the navies of at least a dozen countries are involved in anti-piracy operations off Somalia. According to the United Nations, Somali pirates carried out at least 120 attacks on ships in 2008, resulting in combined ransom payouts of around $150 million.
Showing posts with label pirates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pirates. Show all posts
Sunday, 3 May 2009
Saturday, 7 February 2009
Ukraine Says Ship Held By Pirates Freed
KIEV, Ukraine -- A merchant ship carrying tanks and weapons held by pirates off the coast of Somalia since September has been freed, Ukraine's president announced Thursday A spokesman for the owners of the MV Faina said on Wednesday that a ransom was paid on to the pirates. The brief statement from the office of President Viktor Yushchenko did not refer to a ransom, but said the ship was freed as the result of an operation involving special-services agents from Ukraine.The Faina is loaded with military hardware and there had been fears the arms would fall into the hands of al-Qaida-backed Somali insurgents. Presidential spokeswoman Irina Vannikova was quoted as telling Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency that "the ship is now under the guard of forces of the U.S. navy and is preparing to head for the Kenyan port of Mombasa."One of the pirates told The Associated Press by satellite telephone that some of the pirates remained on board. "We are not holding it (the ship) now anymore," said Aden Abdi Omar, one of those who left the ship. "But our men should disembark first for it to move to wherever it wants."The U.S. Navy said it appeared the ransom was dropped Wednesday. "We have all indications that a ransom was paid regarding Faina," Lt. Nathan Christensen, a spokesman for the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, told the AP on Thursday.Christensen said U.S. Navy ships, monitoring the Ukrainian arms ship, "saw something that could be a ransom, dropped on the ship on Wednesday." Omar said two boats have been sent to collect more than two dozen other pirates still on board. He said he would give more details later.Mikhail Voitenko, a spokesman for the ship's owner, said the pirates had received a ransom on Wednesday. He did not say how much was paid, but ITAR-Tass news agency put it at $3.2 million. The pirates originally demanded $20 million.The MV Faina carrying a cargo of tanks, other weaponry and about 20 mostly Ukrainian crew members was seized by bandits in September off the Somali coast. Ships of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet surrounded it to be sure the cargo did not get into the hands of Somali insurgent groups linked to al-Qaida."The ransom has been delivered to the Faina. The owners of the ship so far don't want to comment on this, but I'm getting information on this just about every half-hour," Voitenko said in comments on Russian TV Wednesday. "A pile of pirates are counting the haul on the Faina. I hope that nothing will be disrupted and the sailors will soon be able to disembark."Voitenko did not answer repeated phone calls seeking further comment. The seizure of the Faina was one of the most daring attacks by Somali pirates in recent years. Last year Somalia become the global piracy hotspot. A total of 111 attacks on ships reported, with 42 of them being seized.Somalia does not have a coast guard or navy because it has not had a functioning government since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. They then turned on each other, reducing Somalia to anarchy and chaos.
Friday, 30 January 2009
Pirates’ Prison
KIEV, Ukraine -- From economic crisis to gas crisis, from autumn into winter, 17 Ukrainian sailors have remained hostages aboard the MV Faina cargo ship, seized by Somali pirates on Sept. 25.
The men are still waiting for rescue, amid reports that some of them are suffering poor health and that all of them are imprisoned in terrible conditions – enduring scorching temperatures off the lawless east African coast and spending most of their time in a cramped room aboard the hijacked ship.After months of staying silent at the Ukrainian government’s request, relatives of the crew have run out of patience and are now speaking out. They are alarmed by the indifference and inability of the nation’s political leaders to free the crew after four months of captivity, the longest of any in a recent upsurge of high seas piracy in the Indian Ocean.“Faina is a cold-blooded, slow and incredibly cynical murder of 17 boys, who were unlucky enough to be born on the territory, declared as independent Ukraine,” said Victor Shapovalov, father of crew member Denis Shapovalov.“I don’t even dare to call it a state. A state, by definition, pre-supposes territory, population, government and a president. Ukraine is missing the two last ones,” Shapovalov said. “Nothing has been done in four months. Nothing. The government turned a deaf ear to its 17 citizens and we [parents] will find other ways to save their lives.”The relatives of the Faina crew note that their sons’ captivity didn’t even rate a passing mention in either the New Year’s greeting of Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko or Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. The sailors’ mothers also say they recently spent hours in the rain trying to get into the Presidential Secretariat, but were rebuffed. They note that the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a hyperlink to Euro 2012, the soccer championship to be co-hosted by Ukraine, but not to the Faina standoff.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs deny indifference and inaction, and has blamed the interference of third parties for scuttling talks to liberate the crew. Sources and reports identify the third person as Michele Ballarin, an American businesswoman with connections to United States intelligence whose self-described aim has been to turn Somalia from a failed state into a functioning country. Ballarin claims to be trying to broker a deal freeing all hijacked ships in the region and is quoted by military.com as saying: “My goal is to unwind all 17 ships and all 450 people they’ve been holding.”Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry “takes all necessary measure to rescue citizens,” according to spokesman Vasyl Kyrylych, noting that “according to international experience, state structures, as a rule, do not take a direct part in the negotiation process.”So far, however, nobody appears to be successful in freeing the sailors.Faina is owned by Israeli citizen Vadim Alperin, owner of Tomex Team, Inc., and a former deputy of the Odesa City Council. Many of the ship’s crew and their relatives are also from the Black Sea port city.At a Jan. 22 news conference in Kyiv called by the crew’s relatives, Alperin’s representative said that negotiations with the pirates – more than 40 are believed to be aboard the ship – are making progress.“We had already reached an agreement on a $1.7 million ransom,” said Victor Murenko, Alperin’s representative. Murenko, however, said that the pirates rejected some conditions and the deal fell apart. It was revived again on Jan. 21, Murenko said, when the two sides reached an agreement on the ransom amount. He expected release of the sailors within several days. But, as this Jan. 29 edition of the Kyiv Post went to press, the men were still in captivity.So the desperate parents are trying everything to win the release of their loved ones. They are now planning to file a lawsuit against the government.At their Jan. 22 news conference, the parents said they are tired of hearing stories about how negotiations were on the brink of success, only to be disrupted by various third parties.“The informational vacuum is unbearable,” said Svetlana Mgeladze, mother of Faina crew member Roland Mgeladze. “We can’t stand anymore hearing ‘they have water, food and fuel; keep on waiting’ from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”On Jan. 25, parents of the Faina crew got a rare present: a brief phone call from the ship’s crew. Relatives say the credit for arranging the phone call goes not to the Ukrainian government, but to Abdi Muhammed Nur, a representative of the non-profit Human Rights Watch.The telephone conversation was as troubling as it was brief.“We bear up with our last bit of strength,” Denis Shapovalov told his father. He said that the sailors get only one meal a day – rice and noodles – and have irregular supplies of water and poor sanitary conditions. The parents also said their sons told them that the talks were stalled because the pirates wanted to deal directly with the ship’s owner, a step they say hadn’t been taken yet.Besides the 17 Ukrainian crew members, two Russians and a Latvian are also aboard the ship. The vessel’s Russian captain, Vladimir Kolobkov, died of a heart attack two days after the hijacking. His remains are still on board, reportedly kept in a refrigerator.The hostage ship’s complicated identity and mission are raising fears among parents that some Ukrainian government officials don’t want to see the ship returned.The ship sailed under the Belize flag and carried 33 Soviet-type T-72 battle tanks along with other weapons and ammunition. While Ukraine and Kenya insist the tanks were bound for Kenya’s military, Agence France Presse reported that the United States and the pirates themselves have said the weapons were destined for rebels in southern Sudan. If true, the shipments would be in violation of a U.N. Security Council embargo on weapons trade with Sudan.“I judge by the fact that absolutely nothing has been done,” said parent Svitlana Mgeladze. “Probably somebody wants it to be this way.”If the shipments were destined for a prohibited destination, it wouldn’t be the first time that Ukrainian arms exports made scandalous international headlines. During the Leonid Kuchma era, Americans accused Ukraine of supplying Saddam Hussein-led Iraq with advanced radars. More recently, Russians accused Ukraine of supplying Georgians with weapons during the August war. While Ukraine has defended its right to sell arms to Georgia, the proof of radar sales to Iraq never materialized.Oleksiy Tolkachev, head of the non-profit Public Committee of National Security, spoke at the Jan. 22 press conference and he agreed that the ship raises potentially troublesome questions for Ukraine. “Ukrainian weapons trafficking has created international scandal and is viewed as another foundation for the possible impeachment of Victor Yushchenko,” Tolkachev said. “If this ship comes back, an investigation will be held and many questions will be asked.”Victor Shapovalov, father of Denis, a 33 year-old graduate of Odesa National Marine University, has no intention of giving up efforts to save all aboard the Faina. “I raised my son not to lose him to mercantile interests of some shabby leaders of this ‘formation,’” Shapovalov said, referring to Ukraine.
The men are still waiting for rescue, amid reports that some of them are suffering poor health and that all of them are imprisoned in terrible conditions – enduring scorching temperatures off the lawless east African coast and spending most of their time in a cramped room aboard the hijacked ship.After months of staying silent at the Ukrainian government’s request, relatives of the crew have run out of patience and are now speaking out. They are alarmed by the indifference and inability of the nation’s political leaders to free the crew after four months of captivity, the longest of any in a recent upsurge of high seas piracy in the Indian Ocean.“Faina is a cold-blooded, slow and incredibly cynical murder of 17 boys, who were unlucky enough to be born on the territory, declared as independent Ukraine,” said Victor Shapovalov, father of crew member Denis Shapovalov.“I don’t even dare to call it a state. A state, by definition, pre-supposes territory, population, government and a president. Ukraine is missing the two last ones,” Shapovalov said. “Nothing has been done in four months. Nothing. The government turned a deaf ear to its 17 citizens and we [parents] will find other ways to save their lives.”The relatives of the Faina crew note that their sons’ captivity didn’t even rate a passing mention in either the New Year’s greeting of Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko or Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. The sailors’ mothers also say they recently spent hours in the rain trying to get into the Presidential Secretariat, but were rebuffed. They note that the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a hyperlink to Euro 2012, the soccer championship to be co-hosted by Ukraine, but not to the Faina standoff.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs deny indifference and inaction, and has blamed the interference of third parties for scuttling talks to liberate the crew. Sources and reports identify the third person as Michele Ballarin, an American businesswoman with connections to United States intelligence whose self-described aim has been to turn Somalia from a failed state into a functioning country. Ballarin claims to be trying to broker a deal freeing all hijacked ships in the region and is quoted by military.com as saying: “My goal is to unwind all 17 ships and all 450 people they’ve been holding.”Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry “takes all necessary measure to rescue citizens,” according to spokesman Vasyl Kyrylych, noting that “according to international experience, state structures, as a rule, do not take a direct part in the negotiation process.”So far, however, nobody appears to be successful in freeing the sailors.Faina is owned by Israeli citizen Vadim Alperin, owner of Tomex Team, Inc., and a former deputy of the Odesa City Council. Many of the ship’s crew and their relatives are also from the Black Sea port city.At a Jan. 22 news conference in Kyiv called by the crew’s relatives, Alperin’s representative said that negotiations with the pirates – more than 40 are believed to be aboard the ship – are making progress.“We had already reached an agreement on a $1.7 million ransom,” said Victor Murenko, Alperin’s representative. Murenko, however, said that the pirates rejected some conditions and the deal fell apart. It was revived again on Jan. 21, Murenko said, when the two sides reached an agreement on the ransom amount. He expected release of the sailors within several days. But, as this Jan. 29 edition of the Kyiv Post went to press, the men were still in captivity.So the desperate parents are trying everything to win the release of their loved ones. They are now planning to file a lawsuit against the government.At their Jan. 22 news conference, the parents said they are tired of hearing stories about how negotiations were on the brink of success, only to be disrupted by various third parties.“The informational vacuum is unbearable,” said Svetlana Mgeladze, mother of Faina crew member Roland Mgeladze. “We can’t stand anymore hearing ‘they have water, food and fuel; keep on waiting’ from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”On Jan. 25, parents of the Faina crew got a rare present: a brief phone call from the ship’s crew. Relatives say the credit for arranging the phone call goes not to the Ukrainian government, but to Abdi Muhammed Nur, a representative of the non-profit Human Rights Watch.The telephone conversation was as troubling as it was brief.“We bear up with our last bit of strength,” Denis Shapovalov told his father. He said that the sailors get only one meal a day – rice and noodles – and have irregular supplies of water and poor sanitary conditions. The parents also said their sons told them that the talks were stalled because the pirates wanted to deal directly with the ship’s owner, a step they say hadn’t been taken yet.Besides the 17 Ukrainian crew members, two Russians and a Latvian are also aboard the ship. The vessel’s Russian captain, Vladimir Kolobkov, died of a heart attack two days after the hijacking. His remains are still on board, reportedly kept in a refrigerator.The hostage ship’s complicated identity and mission are raising fears among parents that some Ukrainian government officials don’t want to see the ship returned.The ship sailed under the Belize flag and carried 33 Soviet-type T-72 battle tanks along with other weapons and ammunition. While Ukraine and Kenya insist the tanks were bound for Kenya’s military, Agence France Presse reported that the United States and the pirates themselves have said the weapons were destined for rebels in southern Sudan. If true, the shipments would be in violation of a U.N. Security Council embargo on weapons trade with Sudan.“I judge by the fact that absolutely nothing has been done,” said parent Svitlana Mgeladze. “Probably somebody wants it to be this way.”If the shipments were destined for a prohibited destination, it wouldn’t be the first time that Ukrainian arms exports made scandalous international headlines. During the Leonid Kuchma era, Americans accused Ukraine of supplying Saddam Hussein-led Iraq with advanced radars. More recently, Russians accused Ukraine of supplying Georgians with weapons during the August war. While Ukraine has defended its right to sell arms to Georgia, the proof of radar sales to Iraq never materialized.Oleksiy Tolkachev, head of the non-profit Public Committee of National Security, spoke at the Jan. 22 press conference and he agreed that the ship raises potentially troublesome questions for Ukraine. “Ukrainian weapons trafficking has created international scandal and is viewed as another foundation for the possible impeachment of Victor Yushchenko,” Tolkachev said. “If this ship comes back, an investigation will be held and many questions will be asked.”Victor Shapovalov, father of Denis, a 33 year-old graduate of Odesa National Marine University, has no intention of giving up efforts to save all aboard the Faina. “I raised my son not to lose him to mercantile interests of some shabby leaders of this ‘formation,’” Shapovalov said, referring to Ukraine.
Sunday, 7 December 2008
Somali Pirates Threaten To Pull Out Of Ukraine Ship Deal
MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Somali pirates holding an arms-laden Ukrainian cargo ship Sunday accused the owners of stalling on a ransom payment and threatened to pull out of a deal for its release struck a week ago.
A pirate spokesman told AFP that the armed gang holding the Faina was "unhappy about the delay in the ransom payment.""The ship's owners are taking too long to hand over the money," the spokesman, identifying himself only as Ahmed, said by telephone."There have been consultations between the force on the ground and on the ship and everyone agreed that if the money is not delivered on time to abandon the agreement," he added.Elders in the area who didn't wish to be named said a ransom of $3.5 million had been agreed for the ship, carrying 33 Soviet-type battle tanks, rocket launchers and ammunition when it was seized off Somalia two months ago.Sugule Ali, the spokesman for the group of pirates aboard the Faina, told AFP Nov. 30 that agreement on a ransom had been reached and it was "just a matter of time and a few technicalities" before the ship and its crew were released, which he said would occur "within four days".The U.S. military has overflown the hijacked vessel several times to take pictures of the crew lined up on the bridge and verify that all were in good health.The MV Faina was anchored a few miles off the coast of Harardhere, north of Mogadishu, and had been moved several times.The initial ransom demand in the immediate aftermath of the freighter's capture Sept. 25 had been for $35 million.The Ukrainian ship was headed for Kenya when it was seized, with 17 Ukrainians, three Russians and one Latvian on board.The capture of the ship triggered a controversy over its cargo's final destination.Kenya has insisted it was the intended recipient of the arms, but maritime officials and diplomatic sources in the region have said the government of semiautonomous southern Sudan was the destination.
A pirate spokesman told AFP that the armed gang holding the Faina was "unhappy about the delay in the ransom payment.""The ship's owners are taking too long to hand over the money," the spokesman, identifying himself only as Ahmed, said by telephone."There have been consultations between the force on the ground and on the ship and everyone agreed that if the money is not delivered on time to abandon the agreement," he added.Elders in the area who didn't wish to be named said a ransom of $3.5 million had been agreed for the ship, carrying 33 Soviet-type battle tanks, rocket launchers and ammunition when it was seized off Somalia two months ago.Sugule Ali, the spokesman for the group of pirates aboard the Faina, told AFP Nov. 30 that agreement on a ransom had been reached and it was "just a matter of time and a few technicalities" before the ship and its crew were released, which he said would occur "within four days".The U.S. military has overflown the hijacked vessel several times to take pictures of the crew lined up on the bridge and verify that all were in good health.The MV Faina was anchored a few miles off the coast of Harardhere, north of Mogadishu, and had been moved several times.The initial ransom demand in the immediate aftermath of the freighter's capture Sept. 25 had been for $35 million.The Ukrainian ship was headed for Kenya when it was seized, with 17 Ukrainians, three Russians and one Latvian on board.The capture of the ship triggered a controversy over its cargo's final destination.Kenya has insisted it was the intended recipient of the arms, but maritime officials and diplomatic sources in the region have said the government of semiautonomous southern Sudan was the destination.
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