'Pirates' Attack Dubai Vessel Off Somalia

Mogadishu, November 3, 2006 – Gunmen have hijacked a vessel off the lawless coast of Somalia, the owner of the cargo on board said, raising fears of a resurgence in piracy in Somali waters after a several-month lull.

The United Arab Emirates-flagged MV Fishana and its crew of 12 were seized near Adale, 95km northeast of Mogadishu on Thursday, as it sailed to Dubai from the Somali port of El-Maan, he said.

"The captain told me that gunmen hijacked his ship around the Adale coast and forced him to sail to an unknown destination," said Abdulrahman Olow, the Somali businessman who charted the Fishana to carry a load of charcoal.

"We are not aware of its location, but perhaps it is somewhere deep inside Indian Ocean," he said. "I think the hijackers have links with the pirates who were hunting ships off the Somali coast. We thought the era of hijackers had ended, but this shows us that there still pirates in our waters," Olow said.

Somali waters had been plagued by scores of piracy incidents between March and June this year, when a powerful Islamist movement seized Mogadishu and much of southern and central Somalia and began enforcing strict Sharia law.

The Islamists, who were now girding for war against the country's weak government, have vowed to eradicate piracy and have taken control of several Somali ports from where pirates were known to operate.

Islamist officials declined to comment on the reported hijacking of the Fishana, which came just a day after a court in Kenya sentenced ten Somalis to seven years in prison each after convicting them of piracy in a landmark trial.

The spate of hijacking incidents off the unpatrolled 3   700km Somali coast, which included more than 40 attacks on vessels, prompted dire warnings from the International Maritime Bureau (IMB).

Somalia has been without a functioning central government since the 1991 ouster of strongman Mohamed Siyad Barre and its two-year-old transitional government has been wracked by infighting and is now challenged by the Islamists.

Source: Sapa-AFP

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