Leader says he’ll swap info for aid
By Elizabeth A. Kennedy, Katharine Houreld
Friday, April 17, 2009
Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke said the pirates have become so wealthy and powerful that they threaten his government.
“We have information on who is behind this, who is involved,” Sharmarke said in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. “There is a lot of money flowing in … we are following very closely how money is distributed here.”
He was referring to the fact that Somali pirates can earn $1 million or more in ransom for each hijacked ship. Forty-two ships were hijacked by Somali pirates last year, and so far 19 have been taken this year.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday announced new diplomatic efforts to freeze the pirates’ assets and said the Obama administration will work with shippers and insurers to improve their defenses.
Clinton did not call for military force, although she mentioned “going after” pirate bases in Somalia. She urged nations to “explore ways to track and freeze” pirate ransom money and other funds used in purchases of new boats, weapons and communications equipment.
Sharmarke said the Somali government was presenting a plan to envoys from the European Union, the United States and a regional authority to fight pirates by building up military forces and establishing intelligence-gathering posts along its coastline.
“The best way to actually deal with this is to prevent [the pirates] from going into the waters,” Sharmarke said. “We are planning to establish at least 10 or more observation posts on the coastline.”
It was not clear how this plan could cover the 1,900-mile Somali coastline, since Sharmarke’s government controls only a few square blocks of the capital, Mogadishu, with the aid of African peacekeepers.
Donors have been reluctant to fund a government with little accountability, but the recent spike in piracy attacks may change that. Somali pirates are holding more than 280 foreign crewmen captive on 15 ships —- at least 76 of those sailors captured in recent days.
Meanwhile, the American sea captain held hostage for five days by pirates reached port in Kenya on Thursday aboard the destroyer USS Bainbridge, hours after his crew held a joyous reunion with their families at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.
Capt. Richard Phillips of the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama cargo ship, who gave himself up as a hostage to ensure the crew’s safety, planned to spend Thursday night on the Bainbridge, then fly back to the U.S. today.
Source: AP, April 17, 2009