A CONFRONTATION between a group of stranded Somali pirates and the world’s greatest military power intensified in the Indian Ocean last night as the bandits refused to release an American hostage despite the presence of a US destroyer.
The US navy called in a team of FBI negotiators and moved the USS Bainbridge into position to try and secure the release of Richard Phillips, the captain of the Maersk Alabama, which was captured by pirates on Wednesday. Mr Phillips is being held by four Somali gunmen in a lifeboat some 500km (310 miles) off the Horn of Africa. But despite an apparently hopeless position, the pirates showed no signs of giving in. “Please pray for us,” one of the four told Reuters.
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said it appeared the lifeboat, which was no longer tethered to the Alabama, had run out of fuel. Helicopters had also been deployed to the scene, while a P-3 Orion surveillance aircraft was securing aerial footage.
“FBI negotiators stationed at Quantico [in Virginia] have been called by the navy to assist with negotiations with the Somali pirates and are fully engaged in this matter,” an FBI spokesman said.
Mr Phillips had offered himself as a hostage during a dramatic turn of events in which the gunmen escaped in the ship’s lifeboat with their captive after the 20- strong American crew overpowered them and retook control of the vessel. A spokesman for Maersk said yesterday that Mr Phillips was believed to be unharmed. His family is gathered at his farmhouse in Vermont waiting for news.
Andrew Mwangura, head of the East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme, said last night the Alabama had left the scene and was sailing under armed guard towards Mombasa, Kenya, its original destination, where it was expected to dock on Saturday. None of the crew members were hurt in the attack.
A stalemate appeared to be established in which neither side had much room for negotiation. The gunmen know they are likely to be arrested if they give their hostage up while still far out to sea. In Harardheere, one the notorious pirate strongholds in Somalia, an associate of the gang said two boatloads of gunmen had left the port to try to assist their colleagues.
“Our friends are still holding the captain but they cannot move, they are afraid of the warships. We want a ransom and, of course, the captain is our shield. The warships might not destroy the boat as long as he is on board.”
The Alabama was the sixth ship to be hijacked off Somalia’s Indian Ocean coast in a week, and is believed to be the first American-flagged merchant vessel to be attacked by pirates anywhere since the early 19th century.
The surge in attacks has coincided with a return to calm seas after the monsoon period, and has seen the main pirate gangs shift their focus away from the Gulf of Aden, off northern Somalia, which is now patrolled by at least 15 warships.