today demanded $25 million in ransom and set a 10-day deadline.
"We are demanding $25 million from the Saudi owners of the tanker,"
said Mohamed Said, one of the pirates, in a phone interview from the
ship anchored off the Somali coast.
"We do not want long-term discussions to resolve the matter. The
Saudis have 10 days to comply, otherwise we will take action that
could be disastrous."
The Sirius Star with its full cargo of two million barrels of oil has
set new records as the most audacious hijack the pirates have yet
managed, the largest ship yet taken and the attack furthest away from
Somalia.
Seized at the weekend in the Indian Ocean some 500 miles (800 km) off
the coast of Kenya, the vessel is now anchored at the Somali pirate
lair of Harardhere, according to local officials.
Yesterday Prince Saud al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister,
confirmed that the ship's owners were in talks with the pirates, but
the company that operates the Sirius Star has remained tight-lipped
about the claims of negotiations.
"We cannot confirm, nor deny" reports of negotiations with the
hijackers, said Mihir Sapur, the spokesman of Vela International, a
subsidiary of Saudi oil giant Saudi Aramco.
The tanker's crew of 25 include two men from Britain, alongside 19
from the Philippines, two from Poland, one Croatian and one Saudi.
"The families of (Chief Engineer) Peter French, from County Durham,
and (Second Officer) James Grady, from Strathclyde, greatly appreciate
the concern that has been expressed by people throughout the UK and
beyond, about Peter and James. They hope that Peter and James will be
home safely to their families very soon," said the families of the two
Britons, in a statement issued through the Foreign Office last night.
Mr French is married and has a 17-year-old daughter.
Today Saudi Arabia joined other Arab states with Red Sea coastline at
an emergency meeting in Cairo to discuss the threat of piracy off
Somalia.
Senior officials from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen met
for the talks, amid growing international frustration over a situation
described by the International Maritime Bureau as "out of control."
With three more ships captured since the Sirius Star was taken,
Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said his government
would consider all possibilities in dealing with the crisis.
"The Egyptian national security establishment works intensively on all
options, examines what measures could be taken in this regard, and
decides whether a diplomatic and political solution will be
preferred."
"All options are open," Egypt's official MENA news agency quoted him as saying.
Egypt relies heavily on revenue from traffic using the Suez Canal
between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, and Zaki said that some
vessels are now taking alternative routes.
Suez is Egypt's third-largest source of revenue after tourism and
remittances from expatriate workers, and currently about 7.5 per cent
of global trade passes through the canal.
The piracy threat has already prompted Norwegian shipping company
Odfjell to order its ships to use the longer, more expensive but safer
route around Cape of Good Hope, thus avoiding the Suez Canal and the
Somali coast.
Warships from the United States, Russia, Britain and elsewhere are
patrolling the dangerous Gulf of Aden in an attempt to curb piracy
attacks.
Russia's ambassador to Nato has called for international forces to
invade the Somali coast. "It's up to the European Union, Nato and
others to launch a coastal land operation to eliminate the pirates,"
Ambassador Dmitry Rogozin said last night.
But America cautioned that a purely military approach was not the answer.
"You could have all the navies in the world having all their ships out
there, you know, it's not going to ever solve this problem," said
Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary.
"It requires a holistic approach from the international community at
sea, ashore, with governance, with economic development."
The African Union said that the surge in piracy was a result of
worsening security in Somalia, has lacked an effective central
authority President Mohamed Siad Barre was deposed in 1991, setting
off bloody power struggles that have defied numerous bids to restore
nomalcy.
The country is partly occupied by Ethiopian troops and riven by a
civil war involving various hardline Islamist groups.
AU Commission chief Jean Ping called for "stronger and more
co-ordinated efforts," to return stability to Somalia,"including a
rapid deployment of a United Nations peace force."
Agencies
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