MOSCOW - Pirates have agreed on a ransom for releasing a Ukrainian freighter laden with battle tanks and it could be released soon, a spokesman said Sunday. Mikhail Voitenko said the MV Faina could be freed this week along with its cargo and crew if agreement is reached on how to get the ransom money to the pirates, who seized the ship off the coast of Somalia coast in late September. He said negotiations on the issue were held Friday. "The owner has confirmed there is every reason to hope that it will be released this week," said Voitenko, editor of Maritime Bulletin-Sovfrakht, a shipping news Web site. He said he is acting as spokesman for the Faina's owner, Vadim Alperin. A man who answered the phone at Ukraine-based Tomex Team, the ship's technical manager, confirmed that Voitenko was the owner's spokesman. The man refused to give his name. Pirate attacks off Somalia have surged more than 75 percent this year, and the seizure of the Faina raised particular concern because of its cargo of 33 battle tanks and other weapons and ammunition. Its Russian captain died days after the hijacking, and the ship and its 20-member crew are still being held off Somalia. Russia sent a missile destroyer to the region after the hijacking to protect other cargo vessels, and the Faina has been watched by U.S. and other warships to prevent the removal of its cargo, which authorities fear could get into the hands of Somali factions or be sold.
Mikhail Voitenko said the MV Faina could be freed this week along with its cargo and crew if agreement is reached on how to get the ransom money to the pirates, who seized the ship off the coast of Somalia coast in late September. He said negotiations on the issue were held Friday.
"The owner has confirmed there is every reason to hope that it will be released this week," said Voitenko, editor of Maritime Bulletin-Sovfrakht, a shipping news Web site.
He said he is acting as spokesman for the Faina's owner, Vadim Alperin. A man who answered the phone at Ukraine-based Tomex Team, the ship's technical manager, confirmed that Voitenko was the owner's spokesman. The man refused to give his name.
Pirate attacks off Somalia have surged more than 75 percent this year, and the seizure of the Faina raised particular concern because of its cargo of 33 battle tanks and other weapons and ammunition. Its Russian captain died days after the hijacking, and the ship and its 20-member crew are still being held off Somalia.
Russia sent a missile destroyer to the region after the hijacking to protect other cargo vessels, and the Faina has been watched by U.S. and other warships to prevent the removal of its cargo, which authorities fear could get into the hands of Somali factions or be sold.
I don't get it. You can't build a house in Waziristan or throw a wedding in Afghanistan without drawing a blizzard of Hellfire missiles. We bomb aspirin factories, hospitals and schools. We employ bad-ass Special Forces types and psycho mercenaries who set up freelance torture operations and supervise mass executions. We Americans have our faults, but wimpy pacifism isn't one of them. So what's with these pirates? ... Somalia's territorial waters? Sacrosanct! Invade Iraq, invade Afghanistan, try to overthrow the president of Venezuela, send CIA agents into the Iranian desert to case their nuke plants, blast cars on highways in Yemen, no problem. But for God's sake, leave Somalia alone! National sovereignty matters! An American dock landing ship was also on the scene of the Danica White shipjacking. "The USS Carter Hall fired flares and several shots across the bow as well as several disabling shots at the three skiffs in tow," said a navy spokesman. Across the bow? Why didn't they blow them to smithereens? "But the hijacked Danica White made it into Somali waters and the Carter Hall had to back off and watch," reported Navy Times. "We're observing them at this point," said the navy spokesman afterward. "It's ongoing." ... We know why George W. Bush never tried to catch Osama bin Laden; he must have been worried he'd be captured alive and talk about his relationship with the CIA. But what do the Somali pirates have on Bush, the president of Ukraine, and the king of Saudi Arabia? What explains their reluctance to rain hot death on these privateers? Do the pirates plant hot Somali babes to seduce heads of state? ...
An American dock landing ship was also on the scene of the Danica White shipjacking. "The USS Carter Hall fired flares and several shots across the bow as well as several disabling shots at the three skiffs in tow," said a navy spokesman. Across the bow? Why didn't they blow them to smithereens? "But the hijacked Danica White made it into Somali waters and the Carter Hall had to back off and watch," reported Navy Times. "We're observing them at this point," said the navy spokesman afterward. "It's ongoing." ... We know why George W. Bush never tried to catch Osama bin Laden; he must have been worried he'd be captured alive and talk about his relationship with the CIA. But what do the Somali pirates have on Bush, the president of Ukraine, and the king of Saudi Arabia? What explains their reluctance to rain hot death on these privateers? Do the pirates plant hot Somali babes to seduce heads of state? ...
Frank Delaney ~ Ireland
Not that I'm advocating that western powers should simply invade another countries waters willy nilly, but the diffidence of the US in this case is ....interesting. keep to the Fen Causeway
