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Monday, January 12, 2009
NAIROBI (AFP) — Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula on Monday condemned the payment of a ransom to free a Saudi tanker from Somali pirates and insisted his country would pay nothing to free a Ukrainian ship carrying weapons to Kenya.
"I wish to register our displeasure on the payment of ransom last week where the oil tanker was released. Paying encourages criminal acts and we do not support such initiatives," Wetangula told reporters.
According to sources close to the pirates, three million dollars in ransom were paid to free the Sirius Star, which was captured by pirates on November 15 with two million barrels of crude oil.
The capture of the huge crude carrier was one of the most spectacular attacks since acts of piracy off Somalia surged over the past two years.
Pirates from the same clan as those who held the Sirius Star also hijacked the MV Faina, a Ukrainian freighter owned by an Israeli businessman which is carrying 33 Soviet-type battle tanks and tonnes of ammunition.
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.
"As you are aware, our cargo in the MV Faina is still in the hands of pirates. However long it takes, Kenya is not willing to pay ransom and will not pay any ransom," Wetangula said.
"It is not perishable cargo, those guys can keep those tanks and weapons on that ship as long as they wish. We will not pay ransom we will eventually get them. I have no doubt," he said.
The Faina's captain, Vladimir Nikolsky, told AFP in a phone interview that efforts through middlemen to negotiate the ship's release had so far failed due to a lack of determination to release the crew safely.
Nikolsky and an intermediary for the pirates demanded that the ship's owner, Israeli national Vadim Alperin, enter into direct talks with the pirates.
Source: AFP, Jan 12, 2009