Standoff continues between Somali pirates and insurgent group

Nov 23, 2008, 11:24 GMT

Mogadishu - A tense standoff between Somali pirates who hijacked a Saudi Arabian supertanker and an Islamist insurgent group that has vowed to fight them continued Sunday as the clock ticked down on a deadline for the ship's owners to meet a 25-million-dollar ransom demand.

Pirates seized the Sirius Star, which is carrying a full load of crude oil worth 100 million dollars, last weekend around 830 kilometres south-east of the Kenyan port of Mombasa.

The tanker has been anchored off the Somali port town of Haradhere since Tuesday.

Ship owner Saudi Aramco has been given until November 30 to pay the ransom or face 'disastrous action.'

Negotiations are underway, but the situation has grown more complicated as Islamist fighters have entered the town vowing to attack the pirates for seizing a ship from a Muslim country.

Insurgent group al-Shabaab, which is waging a bloody war against the government in southern and central Somalia, says it wants to stamp out piracy.

'We strongly oppose all pirates,' Sheikh Abdirahim Isse Adow, a spokesman for the insurgents, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. 'In our era there were no pirates in our waters. We will fight them when we get the chance.'

The pirates have said that any attempt to storm the ship, either by the insurgents or Somali authorities, will be fiercely resisted.

Authorities in the semi-autonomous Somali region of Puntland and the US Navy, which has warships patrolling the Gulf of Aden, have said they have no plans to free the tanker by force.

Some analysts have said that the insurgents have links to the pirates, but both groups deny this. Piracy declined in 2006 during the Union of Islamic Courts brief period of control in Somalia.

The Islamic regime was toppled with the help of Ethiopian troops, sparking a bloody insurgency that has only grown in ferocity. Now the Islamists are making huge gains and have advanced to the edge of the capital Mogadishu.

Piracy off the Horn of Africa nation has surged in recent months as Somalia descends further into chaos and the ineffectual central government continues to squabble rather than govern.

African Union Commission Chairman Jean Ping has said the instability in Somalia was feeding the rise in piracy.

While pirates on Saturday released the Greek-owned chemical tanker NV Genius and its 19 crew members, around 16 ships and over 300 seamen are still being held.

Another three ships were seized last week after the Sirius Star was taken. According to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said there have been almost 100 attempts at piracy in the region this year, around 40 per cent of them successful.

The surge in piracy has prompted increased patrols by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Russia, the US-led coalition forces, India and France along the Somali coast.

The European Union has also authorized a force of between five and seven frigates, which is expected to arrive in the Gulf of Aden early December.

However, the increased naval presence has not deterred the pirates as they pursue huge ransoms, estimated at 30 million dollars so far this year.

Shipping firms and the international community are demanding firmer action against the pirates, and the Indian navy last week destroyed a pirate mothership for the first time.

Nonetheless, shipping companies are beginning to avoid the Gulf of Aden - a busy shipping channel which forms part of the route linking the Indian Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal.

Industry analysts say that this will drive up the cost of shipping as companies take the longer route round the Cape of Good Hope.