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MPs probe hijacked cargo
The hijacked merchant ship MV Faina as seen from a U.S. Navy guided-missile cruiser last week. Photo/REUTERS
Posted Friday, October 10 2008 at 21:10
The United Nations has approved use of force to rescue the MV Faina, which is carrying 2,300 metric tonnes of the controversial military hardware including 33 T-72 battle tanks, grenade launchers and other artillery.
Heavy presence
The pirates are now demanding a ransom of US$8 million, down from the original US$35 million.
The hijackings have continued despite the heavy presence of six US Navy warships in the Gulf of Aden and a decision by Nato to send an equal number of warships to secure the important waterway that links Europe, Africa and the Middle East to the rest of the world.
In the latest hijacking, the ship with 15 crew including 13 Syrians and two Somalis and owned by a Somali trading company Barqawo was reportedly seized about 360 kilometres from the coast of Puntland.
Ali Abdi Aware, the foreign minister of the semi autonomous region of Puntland told Associated Press that the pirates commandeered the ship and anchored it about 250 kilometres from the shore.
So far about 60 ships have been hijacked by pirates this year alone.
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Submitted by wuod_aketchPosted October 11, 2008 12:58 AM
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France: An apparently interesting court case in Paris involving personalities (former ministers, Mitterand's son, Paul Loup Sullitzer ...) being accused of selling arms to Angola in the 1990s. The French sold arms to warring factions of Dos Santos and Savimbi. Shows little intelligence of Africans? Dos Santos paid twice the market value these arms. The Angolan president recently invited Sarkozy to Luanda to ask the French president to go slow on the AngolaGate case. We expect it to really go srow as Total-France is siphoning millions of petrol barils while Angolans live on a dollar a day!! War=500Dead