France: Hostages held by pirates off Somalia are free (2nd Roundup)

Apr 11, 2008, 12:07 GMT

Paris - The 30 hostages held by Somali pirates have been freed, the Elysee Palace in Paris said Friday.

The 22 French citizens and eight others, six of them from the Philippines, on board the three-masted luxury yacht Le Ponant were seized by pirates off the coast of Somalia one week ago.

The yacht was stormed and taken in the Gulf of Aden by a group of armed men on April 4 and was reported to be anchored off the Somali coast, just south of the autonomous region of Puntland.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed 'his deep gratitude to the French Army forces and all the state services who helped bring about a quick end, without incident, to this hostage-taking,' the Elysee Palace statement said.

Claro Cristobal, spokesman for the Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs, said 'all 30 crew members, including the six Filipinos, are in good physical condition and now in the care of French marines.'

'They will be brought to Djibouti, arriving there in two days time,' he added. 'The embassy is coordinating with French authorities on the repatriation of the Filipino seamen.'

Cristobal said the Philippine government expressed 'gratitude to France for the quick action and resolution of the case.'

A French military source said the release came after negotiations and not a military operation.

Sarkozy was to meet with relatives of the former hostages later Friday.

The French government had been in contact with the kidnappers and had also sent a special unit of elite soldiers to Djibouti, some 1,000 kilometres away, to pressure the pirates to reach a speedy resolution to negotiations. A French warship was also standing by.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said France would organize the swift repatriation of the former hostages and he added that the international community must mobilize to fight piracy in the Gulf of Aden and off the Somalia coast.

Paris also intends to urge the United Nations to provide protection for international shipping near the Somali coast.

There were 263 officially registered pirate attacks around the world in 2007. Not all attacks are reported.

Piracy off the Somali coast - which lies at the mouth of the Red Sea - has been rife since the country slid into chaos after dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted by warlords in 1991.

Frequent pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden, a major trade route between Asia and Europe, has made those waters the world's most dangerous for pirate activities.

The International Maritime Bureau has advised vessels that are not making scheduled calls to ports in Somalia to keep a distance of 200 nautical miles away from the Somali coast.