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Monday, January 12, 2009
NAIROBI (AFP) — The captain of an arms-laden Ukrainian cargo ship
hijacked by Somali pirates appealed Monday for its Israeli owner to
engage in direct talks with its captors and end its crew's 15-week
ordeal.Speaking to AFP by satellite telephone from the MV Faina,
Vladimir Nikolsky complained that no direct contact had been made by
the owner with the leader of the pirates since the vessel was seized on
September 25.
"I think Vadim Alperin, the real ship owner,
doesn't know the real situation.... The owner's representative I think
has been hiding information from him," said Nikolsky in his first
interview since the hijacking.
The MV Faina -- a 152.5 metre (500
foot) blue-hulled Ukrainian vessel, sailing under a Belize flag of
convenience -- was carrying 33 Soviet-type T-72 battle tanks, other
weapons and ammunition.
Its captain Vladimir Kolobkov died in
unclear circumstances two days after the ship's capture, leaving second
mate Nikolsky -- who was contacted by AFP and spoke under the watch of
his captors -- in charge.
The ship's cargo sparked controversy.
Kenya said it was the intended recipient of the weapons, but several
other sources said the cargo was in fact destined for the forces of
South Sudan.
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The crew of the hijacked merchant vessel MV Faina |
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Somali pirates holding the merchant vessel MV Faina standing on the deck of the ship |
Nikolsky said that attempts to negotiate the ship's
release, involving a flurry of middlemen, had failed due to a lack of
determination to free the crew.
"The leader of the pirates
Mohammed Abdi is ready to establish contact with the ship's owner and
he now refuses to make any contact with any other party," he said.
Nikolsky
said the crew -- a Latvian, two Russians and 17 Ukrainians -- were
being decently treated, but stressed nevertheless that their ongoing
captivity is taking its toll.
"The whole of the crew has been
collected in a small room for more than three months. It's a very hard
psychological situation. It's hard to stay in good health," said the
captain, a Russian national.
"They are staying in a small room
without moving, without any physical exercise.... Half of the crew is
ill and the other half of the crew is going to go mad."
The MV
Faina was headed to Kenya's main port Mombasa when it was captured. It
had only just enough fuel and supplies to reach its destination.
According
to sources close to the pirates, the body of the deceased captain
Kolobkov is being kept in the same refrigerator where the crew and
pirates keep some of their food.
"We use the same provisions as
the pirates," Nikolsky said. "Provisions are very poor. We eat one time
in the evening and also we are given some water and sometimes we drink
tea."
Saeed Hasan, a Somali academic acting as an intermediary
and translator for the pirates, told AFP that medical attention is
needed aboard the ship.
"We want a doctor and we want
humanitarian assistance," he said, adding that Alperin should enter
into direct talks with the pirates.
The MV Faina has been held
longer than any other cargo ship since an upsurge in Somali piracy in
recent years. A Nigerian tug boat captured six months ago is also being
held.
"Direct contact from the ship owner is the only
solution.... The owner created his own problem by resorting to unknown
Somali and other foreign intermediaries for the negotiations," Saeed
Hasan said.
Nikolsky said Alperin's direct involvement could yield a breakthrough.
"In this case, he (the leader of the pirates) thinks that the mediation will run quick and successfully," he said.
"I
want to address our best wishes to our families and say that we are
healthy but that we are here while our families are so far from us."
There
are an estimated 1,500 pirates in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean --
mainly fishermen and former coastguards who have turned Somalia's
waters into one of the world's most dangerous.
The pirates who
took the MV Faina are from the same clan as those who captured the
Sirius Star, a Saudi supertanker with two million barrels of oil which
was released on January 9, almost eight weeks after it was hijacked.
SOURCE: AFP, Monday, January 12, 2009