Danes free ship, Somali Government appeals for release of sailors

by Sail-World Cruising on 8 Feb 2010 As Danish Special Forces stormed a hijacked ship and released the crew, the Somali Government has appealed to pirates to free the British crew of a yacht now held for more than three months.

Somali Labour Minister Mohamed Abdi Hayir, who is from Suleiman sub-clan of the Habar-gidir, and reported to be a relative of the clan who have kidnapped Paul and Rachel Chandler, said yesterday: 'We urge the pirates to release the old British couple unconditionally.'

He made the demand during a news conference at the Presidential palace.

'We also urge the British government and all Somalis to participate in releasing the couple by whatever the means. They are innocent Britons in the hands of criminals,' he added. However, he refused to elucidate further on what he meant by the reference to the British Government.

Cruising sailors Paul Chandler, 60, and his wife Rachel, 56, from Tunbridge Wells in Britain, were kidnapped at sea in October while a British ship stood by helplessly for fear the couple would be harmed if they attacked. The pirates have threatened to kill them if they are not paid £4.4million, although it is anticipated that a much lower figure would release the couple.

Images released recently, such as the one above, showed the couple, who are being held separately, looking gaunt and distressed.

The UK government says it will not pay ransoms because that would encourage further kidnaps of Britons.

The development came as Danish special forces dramatically recaptured a hijacked cargo ship. The troops, from a Danish warship, scaled the sides of the Ariella, whose 25 crew had locked themselves into a secure room. The pirates had already left, apparently scared off when the Danish ship's helicopter fired warning shots at one of their boats.

It was the first time the EU naval task force off Somalia had intervened in a hijacking.

Last week the Chandlers were briefly reunited. 'We brought them together a few days ago,' said Abdullahi Dhagaweyne, a commander of the pirate gang holding the Chandlers in a phone call to British press. 'I think they had some kindhearted meeting and enjoyable moments after more days of separation. We are going to bring them together again soon.
'When we separated them again the woman was shrieking.'
Mr Dhagaweyne, who spoke from Haradheere, the pirate town on the central Somali coast where the couple have been kept, warned the gang was 'losing patience' and could sell them to al-Qaeda-linked factions.
He said: 'I cannot confirm that they will forever be in our hands if no ransom is paid, there might be another decision in the future.'
A sale to Somalia's radical al-Shabaab militia, which has been linked to al-Qaeda, is a potential alternative to a ransom payment which the Chandlers relatives and friends cannot afford.
'There are negotiations by phone these days, but no tangible developments yet,' he said. 'No government has called us, only families and other so-called negotiators.
'We may sell [the Chandlers] to anyone who pays us the money we want, if we don't get ransom in the future.'

Since the kidnapping, Sail-World has been contacted by cruising sailors who were with the Chandlers before they set off for Tanzania. The sailors, who did not want to be named, said that the dangers were well known to all cruising sailors in the Seychelles and that they had been warned repeatedly that they should not hazard a voyage to Tanzania.

Now, the manager of the Seychelles Yacht Club, Andre Hoarau, has confirmed this, and that he also warned the couple.
'I told them again and again, we all told them, that they should not go to Tanzania,' he told British newspapers.

He said that he had passed on the multiple reports of pirate activity in the area.