Video of what it's like to be held hostage by Somali pirates

The British media outlet Channel 4 has posted some footage shot by a crewman from the Ukrainian freighter MV Faina - the vessel that was hijacked late last September by a large group of Somali pirates. (You probably remember the incident because the Faina was carrying T-72 battle tanks and other weapons and munitions at the time of the hijacking.) The footage was shot using the mariner's mobile phone and gives some brief glimpses into the crew's situation while being held hostage, mostly the sheer boredom and cramped conditions they endured.

There's not a lot of footage to be seen, and the scenes may seem undramatic given the circumstances, but keep in mind the crew was trying to maintain their spirits while spending over four months as prisoners of the pirates.

On a slightly related note, it's being reported that one of the prisoners from the recently hijacked Turkish ship Horizon I is a woman mariner. Aysun Afbay is the vessel's fourth officer, a 24-year-old Turkish woman who is not, as the Russia Today report states, the first woman to be held hostage by Somali pirates. Several women sailing on pleasure boats have been seized in the past year, and none were mistreated by their captors. Afbay is, though, the first female commercial mariner to be taken hostage.

By the way, there is still some concern about just what is to become of those T-72 tanks that the Faina was ferrying. Jane's has been monitoring them and reports that they may be slowly making their way northwards from barracks outside Nairobi where they have been stored since the hijacking ended in early February of this year. That would be towards the border with southern Sudan, where the Sudan People's Liberation Army may be awaiting the weaponry. The Jane's reports says that the South Sudanese had ordered 100 tanks for their forces, with the ones in the Faina comprising the last of three shipments.

MV Faina update

EagleSpeak has posted a piece about the assistance the US Navy provided the crew of the MV Faina after its release from pirate captivity this week, with a link through to the source at the Navy's official website. I'll make you visit Eagle's site to see it, because he's been on top of this situation better than I have. With muted apologies, I'm just a little swamped with other things right now, folks.

MV Faina to sail to Mombasa

The MV Faina is preparing to set sail on Friday for the Kenyan port of Mombasa, according to Russian press agency RIA Novosti. It quotes the head of Ukraine's external intelligence service as saying the vessel will be met in Mombasa by Kenya's defence minister and the head of that country's general staff, in order to receive the shipment of weapons currently aboard the Faina. Mykola Malomuzh also said that a U.S. Navy frigate had approached the freighter to help refuel her for the trip south.

Meanwhile, Associated Press reports that American sailors inspected the small boats the pirates used to travel from the Faina to shore, checking to make sure no one tried to take any of the weapons from the freighter's cargo. The report does not say whether the naval personnel allowed the pirates to retain any of their own weapons. A spokesperson for the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet in Bahrain said the reason for not arresting the Faina's hijackers is due to concerns about the well-being of 147 other mariners still being held captive by other Somali pirates.

Correction: The Voice of America report I mentioned in my last post was slightly incorrect. The Faina was not in the Gulf of Aden, with her pirate captors counting the loot; the vessel was in Haradhere.

Ukrainain ship MV Faina and its T-72 tanks finally released

MV Faina (Getty Images photo)

After receiving preliminary word from sources in East Africa this afternoon, it can now be confirmed that the MV Faina has been released after Somali pirates received a reported $3.2 million ransom. The vessel, including a crew of 20 mariners (Ukrainian, Russian and Latvian) and its cargo, which includes 33 T-72 main battle tanks and other weaponry and munitions, is reported by Voice of America to be in the Gulf of Aden, where the pirates are "counting and dividing up the money". The vessel was previously being sequestered in the eastern Somali port of Haradhere, which is on the Indian Ocean, so no word on how it managed to get so far north without any action on the part of the various naval elements that have been watching the Faina up till now.

As I've previously reported, there have been concerns raised about the health of the freighter's crew. I'm sure we'll know more in the next few days as to the veracity of those earlier reports. Meanwhile, the true destination of the Faina's cargo remains a mystery. Were the weapons and munitions truly destined for the Kenyan military or were they intended for rebels in southern Sudan? Kenyan piracy expert Andrew Mwangura, one of the first to report that the cargo was not intended for his homeland's military, may find the answer to this question of particular note, as he remains under a judicial cloud as a result of this incident.

Mwangura told me today that he attended court in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa earlier in the day, part of the ongoing efforts to prosecute him for "making alarming statements to foreign media touching on the security of the country." However, the prosecution witness called today could not provide a copy of warrant for Mwangura's arrest, so the case will next be heard on March 4.

It should be noted that since the United States and Britain have agreed to allow Kenya to prosecute any suspected pirates captured by their forces, the case against Andrew Mwangura bears some importance. As Western democracies, we pride ourselves on the rule of justice, and though it may be flawed at times, I like to believe that we would never judicially pursue an individual just because they spoke their word. Should the case against Andrew Mwangura prove fruitless - as I believe it will - what does that say about the degree of accountability we would expect when suspected maritime criminals come before a Kenyan court? The shadow of Guantanimo may yet cloud this picture.

Piracy and the Law

In the last 24 hours, two more vessels were hijacked off East Africa and a pirate ship was blown out of the waters. Interesting developments as we watch the ongoing situation off Somalia in the wake of the seizures of the supertanker MV Sirius Star this past weekend and the freighter transporting T-72 battle tanks, the MV Faina, two months ago.

The hijacking of a Greek bulk carrier yesterday shows there is no respite in the current pirate campaign against mariners. A Thai fishing was also reported to have been attacked, and is now in the hands of Somali pirates. No doubt the anger is growing in commercial, governmental and security establishments to do something about the crisis (for that it what has become), and we are already hearing of upcoming deployments of warships from participants eager to augment the naval vessels already in the area.

Some wonder if these naval forces may take a more pro-active role - such as sending Special Forces teams to board hijacked vessels and free them - however this is an unlikely scenario. The question is: If naval forces were to board the Sirius Star and rescue her crew, would these same forces be used to free every other ship held by pirates? Or would it only be the largest and most valuable merchant ships that are considered worthy of rescue? When France sent commandos to Somalia to deal with pirates - twice, I might add - their activities were limited to dealing with French vessels, not those of any other nation. It's an important question to address, for the Sirius Star and her crew should not be considered more important than that Thai fishing boat and its crew.

Meanwhile, I'd like to point readers to an excellent piece written at the EagleSpeak blog that talks about the legal aspects of modern day piracy. It's well worth a look.

Somalia: How low can you go?

The ongoing situation regarding the freighter MV Faina remains unclear. The Faina is the vessel hijacked by Somali pirates on September 25, along with her crew and a cargo that includes 33 T-72 battle tanks. Her captain died shortly after the ship was seized, possibly suffering a heart attack, and the freighter continues to be anchored near the Somali coast, boxed in by foreign naval vessels from the United States and Russia.

But while that situation remains at an impasse, pirates have not let up in their attacks on merchant ships plying the waters off the Horn of Africa, targeting a number of vessels in the last week. This led to joint British-Russian efforts to assist a Danish vessel, the MV Powerful, which was assaulted yesterday by pirates presumably intent on hijacking the ship. In response, two helicopters were deployed from the Royal Navy frigate HMS Cumberland and the Russian frigate Neustrashimy, while British boat teams were also dispatched. The end reuslt was that two of the would-be attackers were killed by British commandos, the first instance of the Royal Navy engaging pirates in quite some time.

Meanwhile, the situation in Somalia itself continues to deteriorate. As reported by Time Magazine, aid workers are being killed ashore, government officials are being killed, civilians are being killed and even Italian nuns are being abducted. As the article by Alex Perry points out, 8 UN staffers and 24 aid workers have died in Somalia this year. there is no idea how many Somalis have perished in the anarchy that reigns there.

But just one under-reported event gives you some idea of how the downward spiral in Somalia is continuing: A 13-year old girl is reported to have been stoned to death by Islamic extremists on October 27 in the southern part of the country. Her crime? Having commited "adultery" after being gang-raped. That incident allegedly involves the al-Shabaab (Arabic For Youth) gang, who have been linked to incidents of piracy off Somalia, including the taking of the MV Faina.

The connection between sea-based piracy and land-based tyranny should not be forgotten in this part of the world. Expect things to get worse.