New bid for hostage as Somali pirates defy West
Güncelleme Tarihi:
AFP
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Nisan 13, 2009 00:00
MOGADISHU - Somali elders yesterday launched a new bid to free an American held hostage for days on a lifeboat after his pirate captors fired on a U.S. navy vessel and defied attempts to have them arrested.
Even as negotiations resumed to free the American captain, pirates maneuvered an Italian vessel toward the Somali coastline after hijacking it with 16 people onboard in a separate incident Saturday, pirate sources said.
Their defiance of Western naval powers showed the difficulty in dealing with the pirates wreaking havoc on one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.
Negotiations broke down on Saturday after U.S. authorities insisted the pirates be arrested after handing over the American, Captain Richard Phillips, a Somali elder said.
The New York Times reported that the breakdown occurred hours after the pirates fired on a small U.S. navy vessel that tried to approach the lifeboat in the Indian Ocean. Quoting an unnamed U.S. military official, the paper reported that the U.S. boat did not return fire.
"Efforts to end the matter did not succeed Saturday and elders have left the village of Garacad Saturday midnight to resume the negotiations again," Mohamoud Jama, a Somali elder in Garacad, told Agence France-Presse by phone.
Their defiance of Western naval powers showed the difficulty in dealing with the pirates wreaking havoc on one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.
Negotiations broke down on Saturday after U.S. authorities insisted the pirates be arrested after handing over the American, Captain Richard Phillips, a Somali elder said.
The New York Times reported that the breakdown occurred hours after the pirates fired on a small U.S. navy vessel that tried to approach the lifeboat in the Indian Ocean. Quoting an unnamed U.S. military official, the paper reported that the U.S. boat did not return fire.
"Efforts to end the matter did not succeed Saturday and elders have left the village of Garacad Saturday midnight to resume the negotiations again," Mohamoud Jama, a Somali elder in Garacad, told Agence France-Presse by phone.