פורסם בניו-יורק טיימז


במתקפה נועזת השתלטו פיראטים סומאלים על ספינה אוקראינית המכילה כשלושים (!!) טנקים אוקראינים כ-200 מייל מחוף אפריקה. נראה עם זאת שאין לסומלים איך לפרוק את הטנקים. מדאיג יותר הוא המטען של מקלעים כבדים, טילי נ"ט ותותחים קלים שהיה כנראה על הספינה.
לא פשוט להטביע את הספינה בגלל נוכחותו של הצוות האוקראיני השבוי.
באופן מסורתי הפיראטים דורשים כופר עבור שחרור הסחורה והצוות, אבל במקרה זה הם עשויים להתפתות למכור את הנשק למורדים האסלאמיים, לכנופיות מוגדישו, או להשתמש בו בעצמם בכיף.

מדהים.
ץ

Somali Pirates Seize Ukraine Ship
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
Published: September 26, 2008
NAIROBI, Kenya — Somalia’s notorious pirates staged perhaps their most brazen attack yet, seizing a Ukrainian ship carrying dozens of heavy tanks , maritime and diplomatic officials said Friday.

The ship was seized Thursday night about 200 miles off the coast of Somalia, and it is feared that the heavy weapons could fall into the hands of insurgents who are wreaking havoc on a country teetering on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. However, unloading the tanks is likely to be beyond the capacity of the pirates or the insurgents, experts said.

According to Andrew Mwangura, the program coordinator of the Seafarers’ Assistance Program in Kenya, the ship was carrying around 30 T-72 battle tanks, which were going to be offloaded in Mombasa, Kenya.

“These pirates are getting bolder ever day,” said Mr. Mwangura, whose organization tracks pirate attacks. “They are now going to use these weapons as a bargaining chip.”

Somalia’s 1,880-mile coastline is infested with pirates, who strike with seeming impunity and then demand millions of dollars in ransom for the ships and their crews. This year is one of the worst on record, with more than 50 ships attacked, 25 hijacked and 14 currently being held by pirates.

The pirates are often former fishermen who have turned to the more lucrative work of plying the seas with binoculars and rocket-propelled grenades. They travel in light speedboats, deployed from a mother ship far out at sea. They have attacked everything from sailing yachts to oil tankers, sometimes as far out as 300 miles from shore. Pirates even tried to attack an American naval supply ship earlier this week. The navy ship fired warning shots and the pirates fled.

Somali officials say the pirates are growing in numbers, with more than 1,000 gunmen at their disposal, and they have evolved into a sophisticated organized crime ring with their headquarters along the rocky shores of northern Somalia. There is even a pirate spokesman (who could not be reached on Friday).

One Somali official who asked not to be identified described the pirates as an oceangoing “mafia” and said they had netted millions of dollars which they use to buy fancy cars and big houses.

“Paying the ransoms is just making this worse,” the Somali official said.

European countries and the United States have tried to crack down on the problem, with different navies patrolling the waters and escorting United Nations-chartered ships bringing food to Somalia.

An official in the Ukrainian Embassy in Nairobi said Ukraine was closely watching the situation but had scant information about the hijacked ship. According to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry’s Web site, there were 21 people aboard, including 17 Ukrainians, three Russians and a Latvian. The site did not describe the cargo.

An official at the Mombasa port said the ship, called the Faina and registered in Belize, was due to dock at 6 a.m. on Monday, and that it was carrying 2,320 tons of “project cargo,” which could mean heavy machinery.

A Western diplomat in Kenya said “every indication is there were arms on it.”

The diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters, said the pirates would not have the know-how or the equipment to unload the tanks, which weigh more than 80,000 pounds.

“ If there are tanks on board,” the diplomat said, “I don’t think there’s a chance in hell they can get them unloaded.”

More worrisome, he said, was the prospect that the ship was carrying smaller armaments, machine guns, mortars or light artillery, which could be easily funneled to insurgents battling the government.

In the past week, insurgents linked to Somalia’s ousted Islamist movement have mounted attacks on government forces in the capital, Mogadishu. Dozens of civilians have been killed and thousands are fleeing again.

Somalia has been enmeshed in chaos for 17 years, since the central government collapsed and clan warlords carved the country into fiefdoms. The fighting, however, has intensified since December 2006, when Ethiopian troops invaded the country and overthrew a grassroots Islamist movement that controlled much of Somalia.

Ethiopian and American officials said the Islamists were sheltering Al Qaeda terrorists, and the American military has helped the Ethiopians hunt down Islamist leaders.

The United Nations World Food Program has said that the conflict and recent drought have pushed millions of Somalis to the brink of famine. More than 3 million people, nearly half the population, need emergency food to survive. Pirates have threatened the pipeline of food into the country because of the constant hijackings.

The Western diplomat said that he expected navy vessels and aircraft to be sent to chase down the hijacked ship. The Russian Navy indicated midday on Friday that it was dispatching a warship to Somalia, according to Agence France-Presse.

Michael Schwirtz contributed reporting from Moscow and a Somali journalist contributed from Mogadishu.

אז מה

אכן מדהים

השאלה היא האם הם יודעים להפעיל את כל זה בעצמם-ככה שעל בטוח יימכרו את זה