AP News, October 22nd, 2007
Somali pirates seized a cargo ship off the east African coast — one in a series of high-seas attacks in the last week alone, officials said Monday.
Gunmen hijacked the ship last Wednesday, said Andrew Mwangura, the program coordinator of the East Africa Seafarers Assistance Program. He did not know the number or nationalities of the crew on board.
Two other ships were attacked off the Somali coast on Saturday, with pirates firing on one of the boats, he said. And on Sunday, pirates in two speedboats attempted to seize a ship carrying cargo for the World Food Program — the third attack on a WFP ship this year, said Peter Smerdon, a spokesman for the U.N. program.
Not counting the attacks of the past week, Somalia has had 26 reported hijackings this year — compared to eight by this time last year, the International Maritime Bureau said.
Some hijackings have turned deadly: Pirates killed a crew member after seizing a Taiwan-flagged fishing vessel in May off the northeastern coast of Somalia.
The Almarjan, seized last Wednesday, was flying under a Comoros Island flag and was operated by Dubai-based Biyat International, Mwangura said. The incident took several days to confirm, he said Monday.
Mwangura said the rise in hijackings could be linked to the overthrow of an Islamic group that had cracked down on piracy after seizing control of the Somali capital and much of southern Somalia last year.
Somalia, which has not had a functioning government since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991, has been wracked by violence between the Islamic insurgents and government troops and their Ethiopian allies.
The country's coasts are virtually unpoliced, and the shaky, U.N.-backed transitional government comes under daily attack by insurgents.
