Six Le
Ponant pirates captured
Six of the pirates involved in the Le Ponant
incident have been captured by French forces. They are
currently being detained on board a French naval vessel
They were captured in a daring helicopter raid by French
special forces after they had returned to shore.
According to French media reports, about a dozen pirates
were involved in the seizure of Le Ponant and in keeping
its crew hostage.
The crew were released today after the pirates had been
paid a ransom (said by some media sources to be $2
million and provided by CMA-CGM, the parent company of
Le Ponant's operator).
Later the pirates returned to shore. Some of them
dispersed but the others got into a 4x4. It was tracked
by a French military aircraft.
Four helicopters pursued the 4x4. A sniper in one of
them halted it by firing into the engine. Two
helicopters landed and took the six pirates into
custody. One of them was wounded in the foot and the
French authorities are denying Somali reports of three
deaths.
A French military spokesman said that, as well as the
pirates, the raid netted "some interesting bags,"
believed to be part--but not all--of the ransom.
Meantime, the crew of Le Ponant was checked out on board
the Jean Bart, subsequent to which some of them returned
to the Le Ponant to take it back to sea with the
assistance of French naval personnel.
DJIBOUTI --
French luxury sailing ship Le Ponant, whose crew have
been freed by pirates, is expected in Djibouti next
Tuesday, a spokesman for the owners of the vessel said.
"Le Ponant is expected in Djibouti on Tuesday, with or
without the crew. We do not yet have details on the way
in which they will be repatriated," said Jean-Louis
Gaudaire, a spokesman for CMA-CGM, on Friday.
"It takes several days of sailing from where they are to
reach Djibouti and the boat goes a lot slower than the
navy. It is possible the skipper will stay on board with
navy crew to bring the boat back under escort," he said.
The French presidency announced earlier Friday that the
pirates had released the 30 crew, including six
Filipinos and 22 French nationals, who had been held for
a week.
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Somali
pirates end hostage-taking peacefully: French officials
PARIS (AFP) — Pirates have freed the 30 crew from a
French luxury sailing ship which was seized off Somalia
one week ago and had been tailed by the French Navy,
officials said Friday.
The hostages, including 22 French crew aboard Le Ponant,
were freed "without incident," President Nicolas Sarkozy
said in a statement.
A French military source said the 30 were freed after
negotiations and there was no armed intervention. There
was no information over whether a ransom was paid.
The 32-cabin vessel was hijacked on April 4. It had been
anchored off Puntland, a breakaway northern region of
Somalia, during the negotiations.
Owned by French charter company CMA-CGM, the three-mast
sailboat was en route to the Mediterranean from the
Seychelles when pirates boarded the vessel last Friday.
CMA-CGM spokesman Jean-Louis Gaudaire said Le Ponant was
expected in Djibouti next Tuesday "without or without
the crew. We do not yet have details on they way in
which they will be repatriated."
"It takes several days of sailing from where they are to
reach Djibouti and the boat goes a lot slower than the
navy. It is possible the skipper will stay on board with
navy crew to bring the boat back under escort," he said.
"The president of the republic announces the release of
the 30 hostages, including 22 French nationals, of the
Le Ponant sailboat, off the Somali coast," said the
statement from the Elysee presidential palace.
Sarkozy expressed "his deep gratitude to the French army
forces and all the state services who helped bring about
a quick end, without incident, to this hostage taking."
Details of the release were expected to be made public
following a meeting between Sarkozy and the hostages'
families later Friday. A French official, who asked not
to be named, said: "Not a shot was fired. It all took
place calmly."
Valerie Garrec, whose 20-year-old son Thibaut was among
the hostages, praised Sarkozy's handling of the crisis
afer receiving a call from the president's office
announcing the good news around midday.
"They said they were free and safe and we don't know
anything more. Now I am waiting to speak to my son by
phone," Garrec told AFP from her home in Brittany, in
northern France.
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said preparations were
being made to return the freed hostages to France as
soon as possible.
Kouchner announced earlier this week that France had
entered into contact with the hostage takers as the
Ponant anchored off the coast of Puntland, near the
village of Garaad.
The crew also included six Filipinos and one Ukrainian.
Experts said the hostages were being held by the "Somali
Marines," which they described as the most powerful gang
of pirates operating off the coast of Somalia.
France sent a helicopter and navy vessels to the area,
but Prime Minister Francois Fillon said authorities
would not resort to force to win the hostages' release.
A French naval warship maintained close surveillance
with troops from the French gendarmerie's elite
counter-terrorism and hostage rescue unit stationed in
nearby Djibouti.
Kouchner on Friday urged the international community to
take action to fight piracy in the Gulf of Aden and off
the Somali coast and said talks were underway at the
United Nations on the issue.
The foreign minister asked the UN Security Council to
set up a surveillance system for navigation off the
coast of Somalia, saying that some 230 to 300 boats were
attacked in that area last year.
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France assures
safe release of crewmen in Somalia hostage
First Posted 16:50:00 04/10/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- French Ambassador to the country
Gerard Chesnel said Thursday that he was “very
confident” of the resolution of the April 4 hijack of a
French-registered cruise ship which included six
Filipinos among its crew.
In a chance interview, Chesnel said that the French
authorities were directly negotiating with the
hijackers, since there was no effective government in
Somalia.
He said that since communication had been established
between the hijackers and the French authorities on
Tuesday, there has been no news about the negotiations.
“This kind of negotiation has to be very secret if it is
to be successful, but we are very confident that we will
find a way,” he said. “We will do our best to free
them.”
Foreign Affairs undersecretary for Migrant Workers
Affairs Esteban Conejos said the Philippines would seek
the assistance of France because the ship Le Ponant is
French registered and of the United States 6th Fleet,
which is part of a coalition patrolling the dangerous
international waters.
Asked if France would similarly seek the assistance of
the US, Chesnel said: “We don’t need that because we
have our own force in the Indian Ocean. We have a very,
very important presence in the Indian Ocean.”
The French ambassador said his country’s navy patrols
2.5 million square kilometers of its economic zone in
the Indian Ocean to prevent poaching and illegal
fishing.
“All the space in the Indian Ocean between South Africa
and Australia is French because there are lots of small
islands which belong to us. They are uninhabited so
there is no independence movement. The only ones we make
French are the penguins,” he kidded.
Chesnel noted that Somalia was a non-state colonized by
the British in the northern part and by the Italians.
“It has not been a very unified country after
independence,” he said.
On Tuesday, Conejos announced the hijacking by pirates
of a 32-cabin, four-deck yacht that was sailing between
Somalia and Yemen last April 4. He said six of the 30
crewmen who were on board at the time were Filipinos;
and there were no passengers on board at the time.
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France negotiates with pirates who hijacked French luxury yacht Le Ponant off coast of Somalia.
April 9, 2008 - In France, the families of the 22
French hostages meet in Paris with Nicolas Sarkozy as
France talks to Le Ponant’s attackers. 22 French
nationals were taken hostage aboard the French luxury
yacht Le Ponant by 10-12 armed pirates who boarded and
hijacked the boat last Friday in the Gulf of Aden as it
was on its way from the Seychelles to the Mediterranean.
The families of the French crew members met in Paris
yesterday with President of France Nicolas Sarkozy.
Foreign Affairs Minister of France Bernard Kouchner says
the government of France is in communication with the
pirates and that everyone hopes the matter can be
resolved “without any bloodshed,” adding the the process
could take some time. But while the French negotiate,
they are also putting French special forces in place,
leaving options open for a more forceful operation. The
boat is being tracked from the air by surveillance
aircraft and from the water by battleships in the area.
In addition to the 22 French nationals, there are also
some 10 more crew or Ukrainian and South Korean descent.
No passengers for France or elsewhere were aboard at the
time of the incident.
The 32-cabin Le Ponantis equipped with lounges, bar and
a restaurant, is one of three operated by the French
cruise operator CMA-CGM, based in Marseille, which
describes itself as France’s leading cruise provider.
With a capacity for 64 passengers, it offers cruises in
the Gulf region, including between Egypt and Aqaba in
Jordan, and off the coast of Oman. Le Ponant was set to
pick up passangers in Malta later this month.
The part of the Indian Ocean where the Ponantwas
attacked has become a known nest of pirates and
hijackers, who regularly seize civilian vessels and then
demand ransom for passengers and crew. In 2007 alone, 25
incidents took place in the waters off Somalia.
Protection convoys are ordered for ships bringing aid to
Somalia as these are tempting targets for the pirates.
The International Maritime Bureau has reported that
global pirate attacks rose 10 percent in 2007, marking
the first increase in three years. The Bureau has
advised civilian vessels to steer clear of the area. The
hijacking of the Ponant was the second attack in the
area in two days.
The French warship Le Commandant Rouen has been diverted
from NATO’s Afghanistan operation to join the Yemeni
coast guard in the hunt for and rescue of the captured
French yacht.
Opinion is mixed on France’s approach to the crisis,
with some saying that any appearance of giving in to the
pirates’ demands will only encourage similar incidents.
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Wednesday - April 9 11:00 CIP advises us that the families of the French crew members where received at the Elysee Palace yesterday. It was apparently an emotional moment for all concerned.
(The Élysée Palace (Palais de l'Élysée, ia located at 55, rue du faubourg Saint-Honoré, 75008 Paris, not far from the Champs-Élysées) and is the official residence of the President of the French Republic, it is where the president's office is located, and the Council of Ministers meets).
The latest
news is positive with The French Government assuring the
families that everything possible is being done to
secure the release of the crew and the ship and that
there may be positive news to this effect in the very
near future.
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Tuesday - April 8 09:00 DEBKAfile’s shipping correspondent reveals that the pirates who seized the French Le Ponant luxury yacht Friday in international waters off Somalia and took its 32-man crew hostage, headed south.
They are
moored on the Indian Ocean shore of the semi-autonomous
Somali province of Puntland, near the village of Garacad.
The French government has made contact with the pirates
and reports that the hostages are safe and well.
A unit of the elite counter-terror French GIGN unit has
meanwhile arrived in Djibouti to stand by if called on
for for action to release the yacht and hostages. Today,
President Nicolas Sarkozy will meet the families of the
captive crew to update them on the situation.
DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources report: The GIGN is
one of the most effective anti-terror forces in the
world, trained especially in hostage rescue. It numbers
only 90 highly-trained, crack fighting men, organized in
teams of 15.
Puntland communications minister Abdirahman Mohamed
Bangah appealed to the French government not to pay
ransom, else piracy would continue to plague Somali
shores, but rather to use force to rescue the hostages
and free the vessel.
Earlier, French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner said
bloodshed would be avoided and did not rule out paying
ransom.
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Monday - April 7, 2008, 15:30
No demands yet - French
foreign minister Bernard Kouchner said that negotiations
with the sea pirates who seized a French luxury yacht
style cruise ship may take a long time
.
Mr Kouchner said that everything is being done so as to
avoid bloodshed but the pirates have not come up with
any demands for ransom or otherwise. The pirates are
holding all 30 members of the crew hostage but there
were no reports of mistreatment as yet.
It is believed that a French warship is tracking the
yacht while French aircrafts are monitoring it. French
elite forces are on alert and ready to launch a rescue.
The luxury yacht is a 288ft cruise ship called Le Ponant
and was sailing close to the Somalian coast when it was
hijacked.
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Monday- April 7, 2008, 09:00 The French government has deployed a unit
of its elite GIGN anti-terrorism and hostage rescue
force to Djibouti to prepare an assault if negotiations
with
Somali pirates holding the crew of a luxury yacht
style cruise ship -
Le Ponant - a spokeswoman said Monday.
The ship is believed to be docked near the town of Eyl, south of the semi-autonomous region on Puntland, Somali officials said, but they had little information on the fate of the 22 French nationals and 10 Ukrainians on board.
The spokeswoman for the French Foreign Ministry on Monday confirmed the deployment of the elite unit known as GIGN and said, in an internet press conference, that they had been sent 'to reinforce our on-site negotiation staff.'
She added that the hostages were safe and being well treated. The ministry was in close contact with the owner of the ship and the family members of the hostages, the spokeswoman noted.
The unit was sent by Paris to Djibouti, a small East African country that is home to a multinational military task force which primarily hunts for terrorists in the region.
Late Sunday, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in a radio interview that France had made contact with the pirates.
'We've made contact and the matter could last a long time,' Kouchner told France Inter radio. 'Our contact needs to be fruitful and we have to do everything to avoid bloodshed.'
The 32 hostages were crew members of the luxury yacht, the Ponant, which was sailing from Somalia to the southern Yemeni port of Aden when armed pirates boarded it and took the entire crew hostage on Friday.
Kouchner did not rule out the payment of a ransom to secure the release of the crew. Local officials condemned the possible payment.
'The main problem is the owners of the vessels because they directly contact the pirates and give ransom. Then the practice becomes encouraged,' said Yusuf Ahmed Baale, an elder from the region.
'They now have satellite phones, speedy vessels and are well equipped and trained,' he said.
Mohamoud Dahir, a regional official, said he believed the pirates had armed backup forces near Eyl.
Maryse Gilbert, the mother of one of the hostages, told Europe 1 radio that she understood that Kouchner did not want to be specific about France's intentions.
'But as a mother I have problems supporting this,' she said. 'If we have to pay a ransom, then let's do it - and immediately.'
Piracy off the Somali coast - which lies at the mouth of the Red Sea - has been rife since the country slid into chaos after dictator Mohammed Siad Barre was ousted by warlords in 1991.
Frequent pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden, a major trade route between Asia and Europe, has made those waters the world's most dangerous for pirate activities.
The International Maritime Bureau has advised vessels that are not making scheduled calls to ports in Somalia to keep a distance of 200 nautical miles away from the Somali coast.
The French navy escorts aid shipments
to Somalia, which is undergoing the world's worst
humanitarian crisis, according to the United Nations.
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