Somali pirates hijack Russian China-bound oil tanker

[babukijana]

Numerous pirate groups are holding more than 350 hostages

A Russian warship is rushing to assist an oil tanker bound for China which has been hijacked by Somali pirates. The Marshal Shaposhnikov was heading towards the Moscow University, which was attacked 900km (560 miles) off the Somali coast, officials said.
The 23 Russian crew on board are reported to have locked themselves in the ship's radar room.
But a BBC reporter says the Russian warship is unlikely to intervene as it could put the hostages' lives at risk.
Big prize
Shots were fired at the 96,000-tonne tanker from two speedboats in the dawn attack, the ship's owner said.

The BBC's East Africa correspondent Will Ross says the oil tanker is a big prize for the pirates who, based on previous hijackings, are likely to release the cargo and crew only once a multi-million-dollar ransom has been paid.
While the international war ships have prevented some attacks in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, it is widely felt that the solution to ending piracy is on land, he says.
Over the weekend an Islamic insurgent group took control of one of the main pirate bases on the Somali coast.
The pirates had already fled and our correspondent says is not yet clear whether this was part of a wider effort by the insurgents to stamp out piracy.
For now the pirates have moved towards other bases along the coast and at sea the hijackings continue, he says.
Numerous groups of pirates are currently holding more than 350 hostages as well as about 20 ships at various bases around the country.

 

[babukijana]

jamaa hawa washashindikana.

 

[Kiby]

Hawa jamaa bwana wanahitaji msaada wa hali na mali na pia wanahitaji upendo wa hali ya juu. Jumuia za kimataifa zikiongozwa na UN zinahitajika kutoa msaada wa kifesha, kitaalamu, kiuongozi nk kwa taifa hili la Somalia. Zikiruhusika propaganda za kuwaita wasomali ni magaidi na kuwatenga, madhara yake kwa sayari yetu yatakuwa ni makubwa zaidi. Kwani hata huu utekaji wa meli katika bahari yao wanauchukulia kama ukusanyaji mapato ulio stahiki yao baada ya kutengwa na dunia. Binadamu akiruhusiwa kufikia mahala pa kukata tamaa anageuka kuwa silaha ya maangamizi. Dunia hasa nchi zilizoendelea fanyeni kitu kwa ajili ya kuizindua Somalia.

 

[Herbalist Dr MziziMkavu]

Play Video AP – Somali 'pirates' appear in U.S. court

• Play Video Video:Federal court appearance for accused Somali Pirates News 8 San Diego
• Play Video Video:Pirates arrested after attack on French warship: EU AFP

AFP/US Navy/File – Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean in 2008. Islamist militants seized Somalia's port town and major …


By Richard Lough Richard Lough – Wed May 5, 2:45 pm ET
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Somali pirates hijacked a Russian tanker carrying $52 million worth of crude oil and 23 crew on Wednesday, prompting Russia to send a warship to try to deal with the incident, officials said.
Pirates who hijacked the China-bound, Russian-owned MV Moscow University tanker 350 miles off the coast of Yemen warned against any rescue attempt, saying this would endanger the Russian crew.
"A Russian warship is moving toward the tanker," Russian defense ministry spokesman Alexei Kuznetsov said. The Chief of the Russian General Staff cut short a visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels to coordinate the military's response, he added.
The vessel had been traveling under a Liberian flag from Sudan to the Chinese port of Nigbo with 86,000 tonnes of oil owned by Chinese refiner Unipec, a Russian shipping source said. Maritime experts said the tanker had a deadweight of 106,474 tonnes.
"The crew members locked themselves in the radar room. This ship has been hijacked," Commander Rear Admiral Jan Thornqvist of the European Union's Navfor naval force told reporters in the Kenyan port of Mombasa.
Somali sea bandits continue to outwit an international fleet of warships in the busy shipping lane linking Europe with Asia, raking in tens of millions of dollars in ransoms.
One pirate who identified himself as Abdi said the tanker was heading to a pirate haven on the coast of central Somalia.
"Any attempt to rescue the ship will certainly endanger the crew. The ship will be docked at Garacad," Abdi told Reuters by telephone, adding it was too early to talk about a ransom.
NO ATTACK PLANNED
Russia's permanent representative to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, said the warship would not attack the tanker as the safety of the crew was the top priority, Interfax news agency reported.
The ship will reach the tanker at around 2100 GMT, he said.
Some oil tankers are sailing around southern Africa and further east into the Indian Ocean away from Somalia's coastline to avoid the Gulf of Aden and pirates who are striking deeper out at sea, shipping experts say.
But many are running the gauntlet through the busy Gulf of Aden shipping lane, where warships operate convoys and have set up transit corridors. The tanker had not registered with the Maritime Security Center Horn of Africa, EU NAVFOR said.
The use of mother ships has enabled Somali pirates to strike as far as the Mozambique Channel and off India's coast in recent months, launching smaller boats known as skiffs against ships.
About 7 percent of world oil consumption passes through the Gulf of Aden.
Last weekend, Somali insurgent group Hizbul Islam seized the pirate haven of Haradheere and pledged to take control of more towns in the region, the rebel group said.
(Additional reporting by Jonathan Saul in London, Abdi Guled in Mogadishu, George Obulutsa in Nairobi, Gleb Stolyarov in Moscow; Editing by David Stamp)


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100505/ts_nm/us_somalia_piracy_russia

 

[Buchanan]

Wanafuata mafundisho ya mungu wao 'allah'!

 

[Herbalist Dr MziziMkavu]

Wanafuata mafundisho ya mungu wao 'allah'!

sio kumfuata Mungu wao Allah . Njaa ndio inawao wasababisha hayo matatizo na kwao hakuna Serikali ndio maana wanafanya hivyo ingekuwa kwetu nako hakuna Serikali na sisi tungekuwa hivyo hivyo kama hao Wasomali sasa utasema tunamfuata Mungu wetu Feki (Yesu)? usitie mambo ya Dini na Siasa Mkuu umesoma mpaka darasa la ngapi? Hebu soma hii forum inaitwa ( International Forum) Sio kuleta mambo ya Dini hapa nenda kule kwa Forum ya Dini/Imani Kawatukane Waislam na Dini yao hapa ni mambo ya ( International Forum) upo na mimi?

 

[Buchanan]

Play Video AP – Somali 'pirates' appear in U.S. court

• Play Video Video:Federal court appearance for accused Somali Pirates News 8 San Diego
• Play Video Video:Pirates arrested after attack on French warship: EU AFP

AFP/US Navy/File – Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean in 2008. Islamist militants seized Somalia's port town and major …

About 7 percent of world oil consumption passes through the Gulf of Aden.
Last weekend, Somali insurgent group Hizbul Islam seized the pirate haven of Haradheere and pledged to take control of more towns in the region, the rebel group said.
(Additional reporting by Jonathan Saul in London, Abdi Guled in Mogadishu, George Obulutsa in Nairobi, Gleb Stolyarov in Moscow; Editing by David Stamp)


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100505/ts_nm/us_somalia_piracy_russia

MziziMkavu haya mambo yako wazi mno huwezi kuyafunika kirahisi namna hiyo, angalia sehemu ya habari uliyoipost mwenyewe (in red) hapo juu! Hawa watu, kikundi cha Hizbul Islam wako kazini kama walivyotumwa na Allah, mungu wao! Wanatumia mwavuli wa machafuko, kama Islamic Millitants duniani kote wanavyofanya ili kuendeleza Jihad, vita ya Waislam dhidi ya wasio waislam! Hapa hakuna cha siasa wala ndugu yake na siasa! Ndio maana huwezi kusikia Mwislam yeyote, however moderate he is, kuandamana kupinga vitendo vya akina Osama na Islamic Millitants wengineo, lakini utasikia Balozi zinachomwa moto na kushambuliwa, kisa eti katuni ya mtu mmoja aliyefariki karne kadhaa zilizopita imechorwa!

 

[Monsignor]

jamaa hawa washashindikana.

Hawajashishindikana chochote. Go figure out what the Russians have done to 'em. Specifically read between the lines what President Medved said.

Russia says pirates who held tanker are freed

• rint

AP – ** ALTERNATIVE CROP OF MOSB111 ** In this April 6, 2003 file picture Russian anti-submarine ship Marshal …



By JIM HEINTZ, Associated Press Writer Jim Heintz, Associated Press Writer – Fri May 7, 9:35 am ET
MOSCOW – The pirates seized by a Russian warship off the coast of Somalia have been released because of "imperfections" in international law, the Defense Ministry said Friday, a claim that sparked skepticism — and even suspicion the pirates might have been killed.
Authorities initially said the pirates would be brought to Russia to face criminal charges for hijacking a Russian oil tanker. But Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Alexei Kuznetsov told The Associated Press on Friday that the pirates had been released.
Kuznetsov declined to elaborate on the purported legal flaws that prompted the release and it was unclear how the seizure of the tanker might be legally different from last year's alleged hijacking of the Russian-crewed freighter Arctic Sea.
That vessel allegedly was seized by pirates in the Baltic Sea off Sweden and went missing for several days before a Russian warship tracked it down off West Africa. The eight alleged pirates were flown to Moscow to face eventual trial.
The Law of the Seas Convention, to which Russia is a signatory, says the courts of a country that seizes a pirated vessel on the high seas have the right to decide what penalties will be imposed.
But what to do with pirates has become a murky problem. Some countries are wary of hauling in pirates for trial for fear of being saddled with them after they serve prison terms, and some propose that pirates taken to Kenya for trial.
Kuznetsov appeared to echo those concerns when asked why the pirates who seized the tanker were released.
"Why should we feed some pirates?" he asked. He did not give specifics of the pirates' release, but the official news agency ITAR-Tass quoted a ministry source as saying they were "sent home," unarmed and without navigational devices, in the small boats they had used to approach the tanker.
Their home, presumably, was Somalia, a chaotic and lawless country where pirates are almost certain to avoid any formal prosecution.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had hinted Thursday at tough punishment for the pirates, saying "perhaps we should get back to the idea of establishing an international court and other legal tools" to prosecute pirates. "Until then, we'll have to do what our forefathers did when they met the pirates," he said.
Mikhail Voitenko, editor of the Russian online Marine Bulletin, said the release strained credulity and instead sparked suspicion the pirates had all been killed
"There is no more stupid version than the one that has been proposed to us — that there was no sense in dealing with the pirates and that in Russia there are no suitable laws for convicting them," he wrote.
"If the pirates really were let go, it should have been done in the presence of journalists. If the pirates were killed, a heroic version would have to be thought up," Voitenko said.
The pirates boarded the tanker Moscow University on Wednesday. They were arrested Thursday after special forces from a Russian warship stormed the tanker. A gunbattle ensued in which one pirate was killed; 10 others were arrested.
The warship opened with warning fire from large-caliber machine guns and a 30mm artillery complex, the Russian Defense Ministry said. Special forces troops then rappelled down to the tanker from a helicopter, Rear Adm. Jan Thornqvist, the European Union Naval Force commander, told an Associated Press reporter aboard the Swedish warship Carlskrona, which was patrolling 500 miles (800 kilometers) west of the rescue site.
The tanker's 23 crew members, who had taken refuge in a safe room, were not injured.
Suspected pirates from other cases are in custody and awaiting trial in France, the Netherlands and the United States.
Several countries are calling for piracy cases to be prosecuted in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa. The United States, Britain and European Union have signed agreements allowing piracy suspects to be handed over to Kenya for trial.
But there are doubts that Kenya — which is still recovering from postelection turmoil in 2007 that left more than 1,000 people dead — would be able to handle the costly and complicated task of trying all or even most cases that emerge from the exploding piracy crisis in the Indian Ocean.
Some countries reportedly have dumped detained pirates back into lawless Somalia.