Pirates....now with tanks!

[Alinestra Covelia]

But this is a good step and one that's long overdue. China's been increasing in economic influence steadily, but has not taken part in much military collaboration overseas. Its first diplomatic engagement was the North Korean roundtable talks (which are still in limbo, four years on), and meanwhile its increased military spending is causing a shrill outcry in US and neighboring military circles who don't believe the PRC's stated aim of modernizing a 1960s-philosophy army.

A joint mission with US and other peacekeeping forces will help to open more lines of communication and hopefully to make the modernization more palatable.

[Darius871]

Hahaha, you just can't make this **** up:

Five Somali pirates drown as they squabble over their $3million ransom
By David Gardner
Last updated at 7:44 PM on 10th January 2009

Five Somali pirates drowned when a wave washed off their getaway boat as they squabbled over over how to split their $3 million ransom.

The ransom had been paid to the pirates to end the world's biggest ship hijacking.

The canister full of cash was parachuted onto the Sirius Star - observed by the U.S. Navy who provided these images - and the two-month ordeal of the 25 crew, including two Britons, was finally over.

The pirates originally wanted more than £16 million to release the boat and its £65 million load of oil. Eventually they accepted the offer of $3million (around £2million).

But as they made off they continued to row about the payout.

'Two of them swam and survived. One is still missing.


The weather was so terrible that it blew the boat over, then sank it.


We got five dead bodies and we are still searching for the missing one. The waves were disastrous,' said Farah Osman, an associate of the gang.

It is not known what happened to the money or those who survived.


After the squabbling gang left the Saudi supertanker its crew were free to move to a safe port.

Both British crewmen - chief engineer Peter French and second officer James Grad - said they were well treated by the pirates.

Andrew Mwanguru, of the East African Seafarers Assistance programme, based in the Kenyan port of Mombasa, said: 'The last batch of gunmen have disembarked from the Sirius Star. She is now steaming out to safe waters.'

Mr Mwanguru said it was heading south and possible destinations included Mombasa for resupplying or going on to South Africa.


Mr Osman, speaking from Haradheere, said the pirates finally agreed the ransom of $3million with the ship's owners, Vela International.


The company has declined to comment.

The Sirius Star was captured in November with 25 crew members, 450 nautical miles southeast of Kenya in the boldest seizure to date by Somali pirates.

The rampant piracy off Somalia worsened dramatically in 2008 as an Islamist insurgency fuelled chaos onshore.

The piracy in the busy Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean shipping lanes has sent shipping insurance prices soaring, made some owners choose to go round South Africa instead of through the Suez Canal, and brought an unprecedented deployment of international warships to the region.

The crew of the Sirius are from Britain, Poland, Croatia, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines.

The U.S. Navy, which has had a warship close to the Sirius monitoring the saga, could not immediately confirm its release.

The U.S. Navy said on Thursday it was planning to launch a force to combat piracy in the Gulf of Aden, an offshoot of an earlier mission. Chinese warships also began anti-piracy patrols off Somalia this week.

Spain will send up to 395 military personnel and a patrol plane to the waters off Somalia to defend merchant ships from pirates, the government said on Friday.

Underlining the danger, Kenya Ports Authority said on Friday that Somali pirates had attacked a Kenyan fishing vessel north of Mombasa, kidnapping three Indian nationals on board.

Neither the ship nor Kenyan crew, however, were taken, officials said, adding full details of the incident on Thursday in waters near the Somali border were still not available.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worl...n-ransom.html#

5 Somali pirates drown with ransom share
Jan 10, 10:11 AM (ET)
By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Five of the Somali pirates who released a hijacked oil-laden Saudi supertanker drowned with their share of a reported $3 million ransom after their small boat capsized, a pirate and a relative of one of the dead men said Saturday.

Pirate Daud Nure said the boat with eight people on board overturned in a storm after dozens of pirates left the Sirius Star following a two-month standoff in the Gulf of Aden that ended Friday.

He said five people died and three people reached shore after swimming for several hours. Daud Nure was not part of the pirate operation but knew those involved.

Abukar Haji, the uncle of one of the dead men, said the deaths were an accident.

"The boat the pirates were traveling in capsized because it was running at high speed because the pirates were afraid of an attack from the warships patrolling around," he said.

"There has been human and monetary loss but what makes us feel sad is that we don't still have the dead bodies of our relatives. Four are still missing and one washed up on the shore."

Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali Naimi said Saturday that the crew of the Sirius Star was safe and that the tanker had left Somali territorial waters and was on its way home.

A Saudi Oil Ministry official said the ship was headed for Dammam, on Saudi Arabia's Gulf coast, but gave no estimated time of arrival. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

The Liberian-flagged ship is owned by Vela International Marine Ltd., a subsidiary of Saudi oil company Aramco. A spokesman for the Dubai-based Vela, Mihir Sapru, would not provide details of the ship's destination or plans once in port.

"We are very relieved to know that all the crew members are safe and I am glad to say that they are all in good health and high spirits," said a statement by Saleh K'aki, president and CEO of Vela. "Throughout this ordeal, our sole objective was the safe and timely release of the crew. That has been achieved today."

U.S. Navy photos released Friday showed a parachute, carrying what was described as "an apparent payment," floating toward the tanker. The Sirius Star and its 25-member crew had been held since Nov. 15. Its cargo of crude oil was valued at US$100 million at the time.

The capture was seen as a dramatic demonstration of the pirates' ability to strike high-value targets hundreds of miles offshore.

On the same day the Saudi ship was freed, pirates released a captured Iranian-chartered cargo ship, Iran's state television reported Saturday. The ship Delight was carrying 36 tons of wheat when it was attacked in the Gulf of Aden Nov. 18 and seized by pirates. All 25 crew are in good health and the vessel is sailing toward Iran, the TV report said.

The pirate-infested Gulf of Aden is one of the world's busiest shipping routes.

The U.S. Navy announced this week it will head a new anti-piracy task force after more than 100 ships were attacked last year. NATO and the European Union already have warships patrolling the Gulf of Aden and have intervened to prevent several ships from being captured.

More than a dozen ships with about 300 crew members are still being held by pirates off the coast of Somalia, including the weapons-laden Ukrainian cargo ship MV Faina, which was seized in September.

The multimillion dollar ransoms are one of the few ways to earn a living in the impoverished, war-ravaged country. Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991 and nearly half of its population depends on aid.

---

Associated Press Writers Salad Duhul in Mogadishu, Somalia and Brian Murphy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates contributed to this report.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090110/D95KBNE80.html

[onodera]

Abukar Haji, the uncle of one of the dead men, said the deaths were an accident.

I cannot believe it. They know where they live, they know who their relatives are, why the hell have they dropped money on the tanker and not some recognisable appendages?

[David Floyd]

While onodera may be a little bit extreme, he isn't far off. Here's the entire passage, which is very concerning:

Abukar Haji, the uncle of one of the dead men, said the deaths were an accident.

"The boat the pirates were traveling in capsized because it was running at high speed because the pirates were afraid of an attack from the warships patrolling around," he said.

"There has been human and monetary loss but what makes us feel sad is that we don't still have the dead bodies of our relatives. Four are still missing and one washed up on the shore."

Really, *******? They were fleeing from the military? They are ****ING PIRATES! They SHOULD be running! Well, apparently they shouldn't be, since all we do once we catch them is turn them over to Somalia for trial. Yeah, right.

Here's what we should be doing - if pirates take over a ship, said ship is immediately boarded by special forces if it fails to surrender. We attempt to take the pirates alive, but only to tie something heavy to their ankle and toss them overboard. But if we don't take them alive, that's OK too. They still end up dead.

People, THEY ARE ****ING PIRATES! PIRATES! Why is this even a discussion? You commit piracy and get caught, you die! I mean, is Somalia going to protest? Who gives a ****, it's Somalia! What are they going to do, send more pirates?

[BeBMan]

I agree they aren't just pirates, but PIRATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dinner]

Abukar Haji, the uncle of one of the dead men, said the deaths were an accident.

I cannot believe it. They know where they live, they know who their relatives are, why the hell have they dropped money on the tanker and not some recognisable appendages?

Honestly I'd just copy what the USSR did after Arab terrorists tried to kidnap Soviet citizens back in the 1970's. The Arabs demanded the Soviets pay a ransom but the KGB would have none of that. Instead the KGB identified who the terrorists were, kidnapped all of their family members, and then mailed the right ears of their loved ones to the terrorists with a message that if the hostages don't get released then we'll keep mailing pieces of you families. The Soviet hostages were later released unharmed.

[Alinestra Covelia]

I agree they aren't just pirates, but PIRATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They're actually even higher-grade pirates than that. They're four-star pirates. In that they're ****ing pirates!