The caring sharing Somali pirates – hostages tell of life on hijacked ships

THE water was still, the sky cloudless and the 12-man crew, Kenyans and Sri Lankans, were relaxed after their Sunday morning cup of tea in February last year as they returned from taking food aid to north Somalia.

Then they spotted a speck on the horizon. Suddenly realising that a boat was heading right at them, they changed course and put the throttle down.

After an hour-long chase, the pirates' "mother ship" dropped two fibreglass speedboats, which raced up alongside. Each held half-a-dozen young Somalis armed with pistols, machineguns and rocket-launchers.

The terrified sailors held their hands high in surrender as the pirates boarded, firing one warning shot. "They said, 'Don't be frightened, you are just poor people like us. We won't kill anyone unless you disobey us'," recounted a Kenyan mariner, James Sambi, who asked for a false name to be used in case of repercussions with employers.

And so, in a case typical of a phenomenon only now gaining world attention, began a 42-day saga that ended when the owner of the United Nations-contracted ship paid a hefty ransom.

Pirates have been preying on boats in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean ever since Somalia descended into anarchy in 1991. But the rate and scale of attacks has increased dramatically this year, notably with the capture last weekend of a Saudi supertanker carrying $100 million (£68 million) of oil.

Lost behind the headlines about ransom negotiations, increased insurance premiums and valuable cargoes are the tales of seamen, most from developing countries and some earning as little as $100 a month, caught up in the hijackings.

Kenyan sailors painted a picture of initially loud, gun-wielding, threatening pirates, who very quickly treated their captives with relative decency. The hijackers of Mr Sambi's ship even brought a live goat on board the first day, slaughtering it and sharing the meat. On the second day, they let each sailor to send a text to loved ones.

When authorities from Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland province sent boats to apprehend the ship, the pirates put their hostages on deck as a human shield. "They told the coastguard they would kill us, but whispered to us not to worry and to keep our heads down," Mr Sambi said.

Another day, while anchored off the pirate village of Eyl, word went round that US forces were about to storm the ship – so all but four of the pirates fled.

Somali pirates have killed few, if any, hostages and have generally kept them properly fed. But they regularly rob their captives.

Another sailor, Athuman Said Mangore, bouncing his two-year-old son on his knee in a village north of Mombasa, recalled how the pirates went through the crew's belongings when they captured his ship in 2005 and held it for four months.

"They took 4,000 shillings (£34] out of my wallet, and took my ring," he said. But relations soon improved. "After about two or three months, we were friendly. They would joke about wanting a wife."

There have been reports of beatings on hijacked ships, but the main problem for the hostages appears to have been uncertainty, lack of communication with home and fear of being shot in a rescue operation.

Former hostages suggest broadly the same solution to the problem as international experts: navy patrols cannot stop piracy in such a vast area, so order must be restored on land.

"Force is not the answer," said Mr Sambi. "If they blow up the (Saudi Arabian supertanker] Sirius Star, Somalia won't have a single fish left."

'Paying ransom will only encourage further attacks'

RANSOM payments to pirates will only encourage further hostage-taking, David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, insisted yesterday.

The hijackers of the Saudi oil tanker with two British crewmen on board are said to be demanding $25 million (£17 million) for the hostages' release. Mr Miliband said he was "extremely concerned" and called on the international community to "stand firm" against hostage-taking. He said: "We will be approaching this issue in a very delicate way, in a way that puts the security and safety of the hostages to the fore."

James Grady, from Strathclyde, and Peter French, from Co Durham, are among 25 hostages held on the Sirius Star, which was hijacked on Saturday and is anchored off the coast of Somalia.

According to reports, the pirates do not want long-term discussions and have warned of "disastrous" consequences if the tanker owner, Vela International Marine, does not comply within ten days.