Somalis demand ransom for German sailing couple

by M&C/Sail-World on 25 Jun 2008 Somali pirates have now demanded a ransom for the release of German couple they kidnapped from a yacht sailing in the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden, making this the first instance of a small cruising yacht's non-professional crew being kidnapped. Up to 100 small yachts make the Red Sea transit each year, most with short-handed crew, usually families, with or without children.

'The foreigners invaded our waters,' a spokesperson for the group holding the middle-aged couple from Southern Germany said.

The couple were abducted early Monday as they sailed through the Gulf of Aden on a trip from Egypt to Thailand.

Reports coming from the area are confusing. Early reports had claimed that four Europeans were kidnapped, including the skipper and a young child, but the pirates said they are holding only the couple.

The district commissioner of the Las Korey area Yusuf Jama Dabeed said that troops from the semi-autonomous region of Puntland found the yacht abandoned on the shore, but that by that point the kidnappers had taken their captives into the mountains. This leaves a mystery as to what happened to the skipper and the child reportedly on board the yacht.

It is believed that the kidnapping was an opportunistic action that involved both pirates and local fishermen.

The German Foreign Office said that it was attempting to find more information on the kidnapping.

Piracy is rife off the coast of the Horn of Africa nation. Cargo ships and one luxury yacht have been targeted by heavily-armed pirates, who then hold the crew ransom.

Puntland authorities have in the past criticized the practice of paying ransoms, saying it only encourages more piracy.

The most high-profile case in recent months involved the capture of a luxury French yacht in April and its professional crew. French troops rescued the hostages and captured six of the pirates, although another six are believed to have escaped.

The UN Security Council recently approved incursions into Somali waters to curb piracy, which the weak transitional government, currently engaged in countering a bloody insurgency, is powerless to prevent.

Somalia has been in a state of anarchy since the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.



Somali pirates kidnapped a German family of three including a child and a French captain from a yacht off the Gulf of Aden, officials said Tuesday. Somali security forces have launched a rescue mission. The captives were seized Monday and taken to a mountainous area near Puntland, a semiautonomous region of northern Somalia, said Jama Hirsi Farah, minister of state for security in the region.

«We have sent security forces to conduct rescue efforts,» he told The Associated Press by telephone.
The captives are two German parents, their child and the French captain, he said. Another official reported that the yacht was abandoned on shore.

Aqil Abshir Qadi, a clan elder in the area, said he sent 200 clan militiamen into the mountains.
«Our aim is to put pressure on the kidnappers,» he said. «If they refuse to release the Europeans we will use force. But we are trying to solve the issue through dialogue.

The German Embassy in neighboring Kenya referred calls to Berlin, where officials could not immediately comment.
Kidnappings and piracy are on the rise in Somalia, where hijackers demand _ and often receive _ huge ransoms. The 1,880-mile-long (3,025-kilometer-long) coast, the longest in Africa, is overrun with pirates.

On Saturday, a Somali employee of the U.N. refugee agency was kidnapped outside the capital, Mogadishu.
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and turned on each other. Since Somalia does not have a navy, France and the United States are drafting a U.N. resolution that would allow international naval vessels into Somali waters.

Thousands of civilians have been killed in Somalia since 2007, caught in vicious disputes over ancient clan loyalties, religion and government. The country has not had an effective central government since 1991, when warlords toppled dictator Siad Barre and carved Somalia into armed camps ruled by clan law.

Somalia's shaky transitional administration was formed in 2004 with the help of the United Nations, but has failed to assert real control. After Islamic militants seized control of Mogadishu and most of southern Somalia, the government called in troops from Ethiopia in December 2006 to oust them.

An insurgency started soon afterward, and remains a potent and disruptive force. Rebels set land mines and attack police posts and the Ethiopian troops respond with deadly force, witnesses say.
The country also is facing a worsening humanitarian crisis aggravated by high global food prices and drought.