MV FAINA Negotiations: Hostage-freeing Process Approaching Culmination

By: Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

[ Posted On: 2008-12-03 ]

With the Russian missile frigate Neustrashimy having crossed Bad al Mandeb (Red Sea straits) and reached Aden, the negotiations with the Somali pirates have approached a culmination point. Ecoterra 31st and 32nd press releases shed light on the latest developments. I therefore publish them integrally,

Day 31 - 720 h into the FAINA crisis – Update Summary

Ecoterra Intl. - Stay Calm & Solve it Peaceful & Fast!

Ecoterra International – Update & Media Release on the Stand-off Concerning the Ukrainian Weapons-ship Hi-jacked by Somali Pirates.

31st Update 2008-10-25 14:39:11 UTC

New EA Seafarers Assistance Programme Emergency Helpline: +254-738-497979
East African Seafarers Assistance Programme - Media Officer: +254-733-385868

Cut out the clutter - focus on facts !

Increased efforts for a peaceful release continued, but the now one month long stand-off concerning Ukrainian MV FAINA is still not yet solved, though intensive negotiations have continued and both sides are striving to finalize the modalities of the safe release of crew and vessel. A quick solution has to be found to re-supply the vessel with drinking water, food and fuel as well as to safeguard the body of the deceased captain, a Russian who died of a natural cause.

British Royal Navy sources said commanding officers had been given the power to destroy equipment and vessels used by pirates – including sinking their vessels. A US-led international fleet Combined Task Force 150, including the British frigate HMS Northumberland, is already patrolling the Gulf of Aden. Previously, UK commanding officers could only engage pirates if they caught them in the act and were not allowed to destroy their weapons or equipment. A British navy source said: 'The UN Convention on the Laws of the Sea does not permit them to destroy equipment. What the UK guidance will do is allow commanding officers to do that.'

Other news -----

Reports from the hi-jacked MT STOLT VALOR, now almost 6 weeks (41 days) under siege, indicate that the crew is suffering under heat and bad weather, poor food and little drinking water, causing the rapid downturn of the health situation of the seafarers. But while Captain Prabhat Kumar Goyal tries his best to keep the crew in shape, the point which worries them most is the fact that the negotiator for the Japanese owner is very reluctant to keep the negotiations going. "For days the negotiator is not calling and we don't know what is going on", said the Captain who was allowed to contact a humanitarian group in order to get some advise for the high blood pressure conditions of some of the crew-members. A delegation led by the National Shipping Board Chairman will go to Japan to convey the concern over the irresponsible delay in rescuing the sailors, who are held captives on board the hijacked ship against a demand of a ransom. Seema Goyal, wife of the Captain of MT STOLT VALOR, intends to also go to Japan along with the government delegation to personally appeal to the owners of the ship. "I would like to join the delegation and we have to meet the owners and appraise the situation from the family's point of view. I need to tell the owners what we go through as families," she said.

French forces have begun an offensive ahead of a broader United Nations effort. French Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Christian Baptiste says: "We wanted to send a very clear message to the pirates that the days of their flourishing and unpunished business is over."

A Singapore registered ship, the Kota Hening, was attacked by suspected Somali pirates on Thursday night in Kenya’s territorial waters, 180 nautical miles from Mombasa port. The ship, owned by ASL Shipping PTE and managed by Anglo-Eastern Ltd of UK, has 330 containers on board. Mombasa port harbour master Captain Twalib Khamis said: "Armed pirates in three speed boats surrounded the ship and fired several shots but did not cause much damage". The ship, with 22 crew members — four Indians and 18 Indonesians — arrived safely at Mombasa port on Friday at 10am. Maritime sources told a local newspaper that the 8pm attack raised questions over the Kenya Navy’s effectiveness in safeguarding the country’s territorial waters as this was the fourth time a ship had been attacked in Kenyan waters in the past 2 weeks. The attack is said to have taken place near Lamu. Two attacks happened near Kenya/Somali border and 2 happened near Lamu. The incidents reported in the South east coast of Somalia and the Kenyan waters involved 3 cargo ships MV Kota Hening, MV Asalaam while under way to Mombasa and MV Fadhil Rabbi sailing to Dar-es-Salaam from Kisimayo. The true name of the fourth ship has not yet been established clearly. Many ships in the region frequently change names to fool authorities, especially those, who siphon off fuel from large tankers offshore to sell the high-priced commodity clandestinely along the coast.

In the first nine months of this year 63 Incidents were reported in the Gulf of Aden, 21 incidents in the East coast of Somalia (Indian Ocean), 2 incidents near the Kenyan-Somali border and 2 incidents in Kenyan territorial waters. At present 8 ships are held seized in Somali waters (one possible additional case is not clear). Several other vessels with unclear fate, who were reported missing over the last ten years in this area, are still kept on the watch-list, though in some cases it is presumed that they sunk due to bad weather or being unfit to sail.

Ecoterra Intl. urged today the NATO fleet and other navy ships involved in securing the waters off Somalia to also assist in fighting illegal fishing by foreign vessels, even or especially if they have links to their home countries and to arrest any case of toxic waste dumping in a way that it can be prosecuted under UNCLOS and other relevant legislation by the International Maritime Court in Hamburg and its International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) or even the ICC as far as the international humanitarian law and human rights are affected in cases of toxic or nuclear waste dumping having genocidal impacts on the coastal people of Somalia. "Also self-discipline is what is asked for from the nations, who send now their navies into Somalia's waters," the statement read.

Day 32 - 744 h into the FAINA crisis - Update Summary

Ecoterra Intl. - Stay Calm & Solve it Peaceful & Fast!

Ecoterra International – Update & Media Release on the Stand-off Concerning the Ukrainian Weapons-ship Hi-jacked by Somali Pirates.

32nd Update 2008-10-26 14:02:34 UTC

New EA Seafarers Assistance Programme Emergency Helpline: +254-738-497979
East African Seafarers Assistance Programme - Media Officer: +254-733-385868

Cut out the clutter - focus on facts!

Increased efforts for a peaceful release continued, but the now one month long stand-off concerning Ukrainian MV FAINA is still not yet solved, though intensive negotiations have continued and both sides are striving to finalize the modalities of the safe release of crew and vessel.

Negotiations for the release of the crew of the ship MV FAINA seized by pirates off Somalia have entered "a crucial stage", the press service of the Ukrainian member of parliament Nina Karpacheva, who is in Kenya, said on Saturday. "The question of supplying food and drinking water to the ship" has been solved during the negotiations. Madame Karpachova, being also the Ukrainian human rights ombudswoman, met with several Kenyan officials, the U.S. ambassador to Kenya, and maritime as well as U.N. officials. "The negotiating process is continuing, the condition of the crew's health is satisfactory. Measures are being taken to replenish the stock of foods, water and fuel," a statement from the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, adding: "The hostage-freeing process on the ship is approaching the culmination."

"The negotiations and negotiators -- a British law firm and the ship owner -- have been guaranteed all possible support from the Ukrainian government. There is strong hope that the matter will be settled successfully and quickly enough. The demanded ransom will be paid soon, and it is not a crazy sum as earlier reported," said Mikhail Voitenko, editor-in-chief of a Maritime Bulletin.

The Neustrashimy missile frigate from Russia's Baltic Fleet arrived at the port of Aden in Yemen on its way to join an international naval group fighting piracy off the coast of Somalia, the Russian Navy said, according to RIA Novosti. "After water and food replenishments, the warship will carry out measures to protect shipping in the coastal waters of Somalia where sea pirates are active. In particular, the Neustrashimy frigate may escort passenger and merchant vessels," the Russian Navy said, adding that the warship had the right to use force, including weapons, against pirates and that the frigate is to join an international naval group, which has surrounded the MV FAINA, after it was seized by Somali pirates on September 25. The MV FAINA which is carrying battle tanks and heavy weapons, has a crew of 17 Ukrainian nationals, two Russians, and one Lithuanian on board.

Other news -----

With Diwali the most important festivity on the Indian calender coming next week, the families all the Indian seafarers on MT STOLT VALOR hope now for a decisive move by the Japanese owner of the vessel to solve the rather uncomplicated case of that ship. "We trust that the Indian Government has now put its weight behind a fast resolution and a quick release," desperate family members hope.

A former foreign minister of Somalia called Saturday for foreign navies to crack down on piracy and lock the pirates up. "They should set up internment camps under extra-territorial jurisdiction," said Abdullahi Sheikh Ismael. He said the camps could be on Somali soil, but the judges would not have to be from Somalia. Navies which caught pirates could decide themselves where to try them. Ismael, who was speaking in Djibouti, belongs to the legislature of Somalia's interim government and previously held the foreign portfolio.

Meanwhile many Somali legislators have arrived in Nairobi / Kenya for a meeting with IGAD, the regional body tasked with peacekeeping negotiations, but an essential group of dissident Somali politicians required for a renewed governance deal will only arrive - if at all - on Tuesday, informed circles revealed. "They most likely will sign any kind of agreement, but the implementation questions remain", remarked one observer.

Article Source: http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard

About The Author: Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis - is Orientalist, Assyriologist, Egyptologist, Iranologist, Islamologist, Historian and Political Scientist. Dr. Megalommatis, 51, is the author of 12 books, dozens of scholarly articles, hundreds of encyclopedia entries, and thousands of articles. He speaks, reads and writes more than 15, modern and ancient, languages.

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