MOGADISHU: Somali pirates holding Saudi Aramco supertanker, the Sirius Star, yesterday vowed to fight back should any assault be attempted to free the ship and urged its owners to pay a $25 million ransom.
Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said Saudi Arabia was ready to take part in an international naval force to combat piracy. He made this comment while speaking to reporters in Oslo after meeting with his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Store. The Norwegian minister stated that his country would also contribute to the anti-piracy force.
As world powers rushed naval forces to Somalia’s dangerous waters amid growing concerns of major disruptions to international trade, the pirates consolidated their land base with more men and weapons.
Speaking to AFP from the pirate lair of Harardhere, a member of the group holding the Sirius Star said there was no plan to destroy the supertanker or harm its crew but warned any military bid to free it would be “disastrous.”
“I hope the owner of the tanker is wise enough and won’t allow any military option because that would be disastrous for everybody. We are here to defend the tanker if attacked,” Abdiyare Moalim said. “Their intention is clear, I was speaking to them some minutes ago and they told me they are not going to destroy the ship or harm the crew. They are hoping to get what they demanded,” he said from Harardhere, north of Mogadishu.
Local residents told AFP that reinforcements of at least 10 well-armed men joined the pirates holding the ship, which anchored off Harardhere with its 25 crew three days after being hijacked on Nov. 15.
“I saw at least 10 heavily armed pirates heading to the ship. Their boat returned after dropping them off,” local fisherman Hassan Ahmed said.
Residents said clan militias and fighters had arrived in the village and its surroundings over the past two or three days.
“The presence of more people here, whether they are militia or not, is good for the economy of Harardhere. At least they will consume what we have,” Abdi Hassan, who runs a small tea shop, said. “They are welcome here as long they don’t loot and kill.”
The Sirius Star, the biggest ship ever hijacked, and its $100 million load of oil was seized on Nov. 15 and taken three days later to Harardhere, 300 km north of lawless Somalia’s capital Mogadishu.
The pirates gave the owners until Nov. 30 to pay a $25 million ransom, said a pirate who identified himself as Mohamed Sayeed, threatening “disastrous” consequences if Vela International, the shipping arm of the Saudi oil giant Saudi Aramco, failed to comply.
He did not specify the threatened action but the 330-meter long tanker is carrying two million barrels of crude oil.
Moalim said negotiations between the owners and his colleagues on board the Sirius Star were under way but that no breakthrough had been achieved yet. “They receive phone calls from people, some of them claiming to be mediators and others agents of the owners ... So far nothing has been agreed,” he said.
Meanwhile, a Greek-owned chemical tanker freed by Somali pirates on Friday after being held for nearly two months was heading for Saudi Arabia, Greece’s Merchant Shipping Ministry said.
