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The UN's World Food Programme Agency (WFP) has said that Puntland
authorities this morning arrested four men whom they say were part of a
group that hijacked a WFP-contracted ship off the north eastern coast of
Somalia.
The men were arrested when they went ashore to buy supplies in the town of
Bargal. However some four hijackers remain in control of the MV Rozen.
“The arrest is welcome news, but the safe release of the crew and the
vessel remains our chief concern. We very much hope this ordeal will
finish soon,” said WFP Somalia’s Country Director Peter Goossens.
Since yesterday, the ship has been anchored six miles off the coast of the
Puntland region of Somalia, near Bargal.
It is reported to be surrounded by five of the Puntland authorities’
police boats. Latest reports indicate the ship is now sailing southwards.
The vessel was hijacked on Sunday morning (25 February) off the
northeastern coast of Somalia in the region of Puntland, with six Sri
Lankan and six Kenyan crew members on board.
It had earlier delivered 1800 metric tons of food aid to ports at Berbera
and to Bossaso, and was sailing empty to Mombasa in Kenya.
“We are appealing for the safe return of the crew and the vessel as soon
as possible, and for people to respect the need for humanitarian delivery
corridors. Somalia is one of the poorest countries in the world, and there
are families whose lives depend on our ability to get food aid through,”
Goossens said.
WFP remains in close contact with Somalia’s Transitional Federal
Government (TFG), the Puntland authorities, and with the vessel’s agents.
In 2005, because of piracy in Somali waters WFP temporarily had to suspend
deliveries of food aid by sea for some weeks.
However since then sea deliveries have been uninterrupted, even during the
worst days of the conflict between the TFG and the Union of Islamic Courts
(ICU) at the end of last year.
In 2006, WFP delivered some 78,000 metric tonnes of relief food to 1.4
million people affected by drought and floods in southern Somalia.
However, Motaku Shipping's company manager Karim Kudrath is reported
to have expressed concerns about their role in delivering food aid to
Somalia, saying that they were the only shipping company that has agreed
to do it.
As Shipping Times UK first reported, all four of the
company's St Vincent and Grenadine's flagged ships, motor vessels
SEMLOW, MILTZOW, TORGELOW and now ROZEN have been captured by pirates as
they made their UN-charter shipments.
"I am very doubtful if we will continue to offer our services to Somalia,"
said Mr Kudrath, " It is getting very difficult for us."
There now follows pictures of the three other vessels owned by the
Mombassa-based company: (mv ROZEN shown at top of page)
mv MILTZOW
mv TURGELOW
mv SEMLOW
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