Piracy update: Canadians, French and Americans/American captain freed

Update: Looks like the Americans followed the French example, and with complete success [quote is from first report, around 1345, text will change at link] :

The captain of the Maersk Alabama was freed Sunday after being held captive since Wednesday by pirates off the coast of Somalia, a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the situation told CNN.

The official said Capt. Richard Phillips is uninjured and in good condition, and that three of the four pirates were killed. The fourth pirate is in custody. Phillips was taken aboard the USS Bainbridge, a nearby naval warship.

Capt. Richard Phillips of the Maersk Alabama is being held by pirates on a lifeboat off Somalia...

1) Canadians:

Thwarting Somali buccaneers
HMCS Winnipeg on NATO mission to combat pirates

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Crew of HMCS Winnipeg board suspected pirate boats that reportedly opened fire on a merchant vessel in Gulf of Aden on April 9. (PHOTOS SUPPLIED BY THE CANADIAN FORCES)

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Leading Seaman Eryn Massey.

They're not the flamboyant pirates that captured the public's imagination on the big screen. The captain of HMCS Winnipeg says the threat posed by Somali pirates to passing ships is deadly serious.

"The swashbuckling mythology is what we all think of, but the reality is a lot more stark than that," said Cmdr. Craig Baines, captain of the Canadian warship and a former Winnipegger. "It's not terrorism, but it is armed robbery on the high seas."

HMCS Winnipeg is part of the mission to deter pirate activity in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Somalia. The ship is part of a NATO fleet including ships from Spain, Portugal and the U.S.

The ship faced its second major challenge in just a week in the wee hours of Thursday morning [April 9], when a ship traveling through the darkness sent out a distress call to the Canadian and Spanish military vessels that it was under apparent attack from pirates.

As the threatened ship tried to evade its attackers, HMCS Winnipeg launched its Sea King helicopter, which scared the pirates away, Baines said. The chopper's crew scanned the waters and found a larger ship with two smaller skiffs nearby, one matching the description of the suspect boat.

Baines said HMCS sent a search team on board, but they found no weapons -- not surprising, he said, since the crew had seen people throwing items overboard moments earlier.

The ship prevented another potential pirate attack April 4, when three pirate skiffs racing towards a ship called the Pacific Opal were scared off by a helicopter with machine guns at the ready, brandishing a large sign that said "Stop" in Somali.

HMCS Winnipeg spends its days and nights patrolling what's known as the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor, a shipping route through the Gulf of Aden...

Fending off such activity is a tall order in a million square kilometres of open water, made more challenging by the fact that pirates often disguise themselves as fishermen, Baines said.

"It's very difficult to determine who is a pirate and who is a legitimate fisherman until they actually do something suspicious," he said.

HMCS Winnipeg hasn't exchanged any fire with attackers, but Baines said the ship has anti-air and anti-surface missiles on board: "You have to be ready for all contingencies."..

2) French:

French defense minister pledges probe into death during raid on boat held by Somali pirates

France's defense minister on Saturday [April 11] promised an investigation into the death of a hostage killed during a French navy commando operation that freed four other captives held by Somali pirates.

This undated photo provided Friday, April 10, 2009 by the French Navy shows an armed pirate, right, and an unidentified individual aboard the French sailboat Tanit, off the coast of Somalia. France's navy stormed a French sailboat held by pirates off the Somali coast Friday in an assault triggered by threats the passengers would be executed, but one hostage was killed in the operation, French Defense Minister Herve Morin said. (AP Photo/French Navy)

(AP)

April 9, 2009

Defense Minister Herve Morin acknowledged that it could have been a French bullet that killed hostage Florent Lemacon, during an operation that demonstrated the risks of using military force against sea bandits.

Pirates seized a sailboat carrying Lemacon, his wife, 3-year-old son and two friends off the Somali coast a week ago. On Friday, French navy commandos stormed the boat in an assault triggered by threats the passengers would be executed.

Two pirates were killed, and Lemacon died in an exchange of fire as he tried to duck down the hatch.

"There will be of course a judicial inquiry, therefore there will be an autopsy. We cannot of course exclude that during the exchange of fire between the pirates and our commandos, the shot (that killed Lemacon) was French," Morin said on Europe-1 radio.

Still, he defended the action.

"We, I believe, made the best decision possible," he said.

France has been at the forefront of multinational anti-piracy efforts to protect the strategic shipping zone in the northern Indian Ocean — and has been more aggressive than many governments in responding to the seizure of boats holding its citizens.

The president of Somalia's northeastern region of Puntland, the main hub for the country's pirates, called on other nations to follow France's example.

"We call on any country whose citizens are taken by pirates to use force, because paying a ransom would only encourage more piracy," said Abdirahman Farole.

France's government has in the past said it refuses to pay ransoms. In this case, exceptionally, Morin said French negotiators discussed a ransom with the pirates, but they refused it.

Friday's operation was the third such raid by French commandos against pirates in the past year [emphasis added], but the first to result in the death of a hostage.

The pirates fired with Kalashnikovs as eight commandos boarded the boat backed by firepower from 70 commandos on three French frigates.

Three pirates were taken prisoner in the operation, and are to be brought to France for criminal proceedings, joining 12 pirates already jailed and awaiting trial here [emphasis added].

The four freed hostages were brought to Djibouti, and were to be flown to a French military airbase on Sunday, Morin's office said. Lemacon's body was to be brought to France later for an autopsy.

President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered the assault when all negotiations failed and the boat drifted toward the Somali coast, Morin said. France's policy is to refuse to allow French citizens to be taken ashore as hostages [emphasis added]...

3) Americans:

US won't give in to pirate blackmail: senator

The shipping company whose captain is being held hostage by Somali pirates said the US Navy saw him alive Sunday, as a top senator said the United States is "not going to give in to blackmail."

Maersk Line, operators of the Maersk Alabama which was briefly hijacked by armed pirates this week before its captain was taken captive, said the navy told them they "had sight contact of Captain Richard Phillips" Sunday.

Intense negotiations are ongoing off the coast of Somalia where the small band of pirates have held Phillips in a lifeboat since Wednesday [April 8], closely shadowed by two US Navy warships.

The previous night, a small US naval party approached the lifeboat but was forced back when the pirates opened fire, The New York Times reported.

The pirates' defiance of Western naval powers has highlighted the difficulty in dealing with the pirates wreaking havoc on one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, but a US lawmaker warned that Washington was not ready to cave in to the demands of outlaws.

"We're not going to give in to blackmail, and we're not going to allow them to continue to do what they're doing," pledged Republican Senator Tom Coburn on the Fox News Sunday program.

The US approach to the piracy problem is "going to have to be much more aggressive," he added.

The talks -- involving Somali elders and negotiators from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation -- for the captain's release broke off Saturday when US authorities insisted the pirates be arrested, while the hijackers reportedly demanded a two-million-dollar ransom and safe passage to Somalia.

Democratic Senator Evan Bayh, speaking alongside Coburn, said the United States has "got to make them pay a price for this kind of activity that is larger than the ransoms they're extracting," so the pirates will be forced to "discontinue" their activities.

"This shows when you have a failed state -- there's no government in Somalia capable of controlling that coast -- that leads to all sorts of problems," he added.

US Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen meanwhile noted how ship owners operating in the Gulf of Aden have paid over 40 million dollars in ransom over the past year [emphasis added].

"They seem to have accepted this as a cost of doing business, and they'd rather pay it than confront the pirates," Allen told CNN television.

For that reason, he added, the United States alongside the international community needs to "create a viable, effective, legal mechanism to hold these people accountable so that doesn't have to be the option."..

[Earlier:

The San Diego-based warship USS Boxer [one of those amphibious assault ships--LHDs--that are not quite aircraft carriers],which gets some of its munitions from the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station and carries Marines from Camp Pendleton, has arrived at the scene of a stand-off with pirates who are holding an American ship captain in a lifeboat...]

More on the Maersk Alabama [links in original]:

New bid to free captain of pirated US ship
The Maersk Alabama's crew, now in Kenya, tells story as negotiations continue over captain held hostage.

After arriving safely in Mombasa, Kenya, on Saturday night, the sailors aboard the first American ship to be attacked by pirates in 200 years have begun to tell their story. Negotiations are still under way to secure the release of the US captain being held hostage...


SAFELY ASHORE: The Maersk Alabama and its crew arrived at the port of Mombasa, Kenya, Sunday [April 12]after a harrowing encounter with Somali pirates. The ship's American captain is still being held by the pirates. Sayyid Azim/AP

Although the Maersk Alabama's crew, who are still being questioned by the FBI, CIA, and other US government agencies, has remained largely quiet about their ordeal, they spoke briefly to the press about their battle with the pirates. On Wednesday, the Somali raiders came at the ship from the stern, reports the Times of London, firing shots into the air, and boarding with hooks. The ship's captain, Richard Phillips, surrendered himself to the pirates in an attempt to save his crew.

[Crew member ATM] Reza, a father of one[,] told how he led one of the pirates to the engine room, where he stabbed him in the hand with an ice pick and tied him up.

The rest of the crew did not give more details, but have told family members by phone that they took one pirate hostage before giving him up in the hope their captain would be released. Instead, the Somalis fled with Captain Phillips to the lifeboat.

Captain Phillips remains in pirate custody, despite an escape attempt on Friday. As a US warship monitors the situation, American negotiators have been working with leaders from the pirates' village to broker a deal for the captain's release, but the Chicago Tribune reports that a compromise has yet to be reached. Village elders are demanding that the four pirates holding the captain be return to Somalia for prosecution, while the US has demanded their arrest.

The BBC reported that Somali elders were setting sail from the Somali town of Eyl in a fresh bid to resolve the situation. The pirates have warned the US not to try to take the captain by force.

In the latest attempt to end the stand-off, elders said to be related to the pirates set sail from the northern Somali town of Eyl. US military officials confirmed fresh negotiations were under way.

The BBC's Jonah Fisher in Mombasa says the main stumbling block is the pirates' demand to be allowed to return to land before returning the hostage.

While the crew members were relieved to have arrived safely in Mombasa, Kenya, the ship's original destination, many were still upset by their captain's continued detention. The Independent reports that one unnamed crew member confronted reporters on Saturday night, saying, "He's out there dying so we can live." The distraught mariner, angry with the media attention, then swore at reporters before smashing a cup and retreating below deck...

Another photo of the Maersk Alabama:

FILE - This undated image made available in London, Wednesday April 8, 2009 by Maersk Line, shows the 17,000-ton container ship Maersk Alabama, when it was operating under the name Maersk Alva, which has been hijacked by Somalia pirates with 20 crew members aboard while sailing from Salalah in Oman to the Kenyan port of Mombassa via Djibouti. (AP Photo/Maersk Line, file, ho)