UPDATED ON:
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
12:08 Mecca time, 09:08 GMT
 
News Africa
Somali pirates seek 'honest' talks
Pirates are demanding millions of dollars to free
the Sirius Star, a Saudi oil tanker [AFP]

Somali pirates demanding millions of dollars for the return of a Saudi oil tanker they seized on November 11 say they are open to "honest" negotiations.

Mohammed Said, the leader of the group in control of the Sirius Star, said that protracted talks are of no use to them, the ship's owners or the crew.

"We are urging the owners of the Saudi tanker to have an honest dialogue in order to end the crisis," he said on Tuesday.

Said said that the owners of the vessel, which is holding two million gallons of crude oil, should call the pirates on the boat so that negotiations can proceed more quickly.

"Too much delay is not good for us and for the owners of the tanker and the crew as well. We are not threatening them but we are urging them to be honest," he said.

Crew 'unhurt'

The pirates, who boarded the tanker on November 15, are looking for at least $15m in ransom payments to release the vessel, which is anchored off the Somali coastal village of Haradheere.

The hijackers are still in talks with the owners of the Sirius Star and the crew have not been harmed, Said said.

"We're treating the people on the ship very courteously and this will not change unless the other side behaves aggressively," he said.

Two British crew members said that they had not been hurt by the pirates.

"Everything is OK, we've got no mistreatment or anything, we're being treated quite well," Peter French, the vessel’s chief engineer, told ITV News television by telephone.

“Hopefully we are going to get some more phone calls to our families soon. Our families don't have too much to worry about at the moment."

James Grady, the vessel’s second officer, said that although members of the 25-strong crew are not being allowed on deck, their captors have not hurt them.

It not clear whether the crew members were in the immediate presence of pirates during the telephone interviews.

Countries including the US, Russia and India have sent naval ships to patrol waters around the Horn of Africa in an attempt to stop pirate attacks.

Their action comes as piracy threatens the safe passage of maritime cargo through the Gulf Aden, towards the Suez Canal.

Somali pirates are holding 17 ships and more than 250 crew members hostage, and have carried out more than 100 attacks in the last year.

 Source: Agencies
Feedback Number of comments : 6
 
Fred
Canada
27/11/2008
Mexican Standoff
It is an interesting situation. If they DO harm the hostages, then they themselves will surely die immediately. The hostages are all they have.

Abdi
Somalia
27/11/2008
The world should stop piracy
Sine the piracy started the world had not done anything to stop the pirates, and still sending big military Vessels to fight pirates, my suggestion the world should solve the crisis through shaping the whole policy of the country, which means if the are serous the should establish a very strong central government which can handle the issues of pirates, otherwise it seems the action ridiculous and meaningless.

edward
United Kingdom
27/11/2008
Somali pirates seek honest talks
Whatever needs to be done should be done in order to return the innocent crews to there familys with out any further delay, and if that means paying the ransom then so be it, but in this the 21st century surely we should be able to trace and find these thieving armed robbers once they have run back to there lairs with there ill gotten gains. And once found then the full weight of the law should be thown at them.

Simon
Japan
28/11/2008
Somali pirates
As in other branches of crime, the seamen who actually boarded the ships are unlikely to be the people who profit most. Who are the big fish, the puppeteers? Without cracking down on THEM, only the current crisis will be solved. Thank you, Mr Bush, for driving out the Islamist Court who had things under a semblance of control in Somalia. :-(

Victor
United States
28/11/2008
Honest talks? Yeahh Rightt
I do believe that the pirates are sincere in their request for honest talks. They are professionals and have embarked on a career that is profitable to them and costly to the rest of the world. Besides, they are Muslims, the owners of the ship are Muslims. There is always honest talks between Muslims. If the owners are non-Muslim, They will hold on till the end ... paid ransom at their price or suicide along with the hostages. We know where their hideout, just NUKE em w/ Irans first bomb.

S
Saudi Arabia
28/11/2008
I don't think finding them is the problem. the people in charge need to figure out how to handle this but if they just pay up then it may encourage other pirates to do the same. All we can do is trust that the people handling the situation know what they are doing.

 
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