Capt. Richard Phillips. Somali Elders Vow to Solve the Problem Peacefully

(Version anglaise seulement)

Somali Elders and parents of the four pirates, who are holding Capt. Richard Phillips, the captain of a American merchant vessel hostage in a life-boat entangled in the stand-off with the US-American Navy, have vowed to solve the problem peacefully.

They travelled already from inland Galkayo to Garacad at the seashore and are ready to travel at first light by boat towards the scene. The group of respected local leader Abdi Ali Mohamed is determined and promised that they will be able "without any guns or ransom" to hand over the American captain of MV ALABAMA safely to the nearby USS Bainbridge.

The elders demand only that they get a written guarantee for their safe and free return to Somalia together with the young pirate-boys hailing from their community. They started to insist on the written guarantee signed by a senior US naval officer only after their offer to the US was responded to by a call to their known mobile phone number from a Somali - presumably from the naval destroyer that arrived on the scene earlier Thursday-, who -according to the elders - speaks very poor, Americanized Somali language and whom they do not trust.

Already earlier in the day it was reported that first negotiations by the FBI - presumably with the help of this Somali translator - failed miserably. Thereafter an escape attempt by the captain was quickly averted by the Somali youngsters, who recaptured him and still hold him on the lifeboat, reportedly unharmed. The elder are reachable by their mobile phone and only await the consent and go-ahead from the Americans.

Weather in the area was expected to be sunny with calm winds over the next few days, said Josh Newhard, a meteorologist with AccuWeather.com, a global weather service. Waves were expected to average between 2 and 4 feet, which is relatively calm, he said.

Meanwhile MV Alabama began sailing toward the Kenyan port of Mombasa - its original destination - and was expected to arrive Saturday night, said Joseph Murphy, a professor at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy whose son, Shane Murphy, is second-in-command of the vessel. A Navy team of 18 armed guards is aboard the vessel.

The Bainbridge had arrived earlier in the day near the Alabama and the lifeboat. Maersk shipping company spokesman Kevin Speers told AP Radio the lifeboat was out of fuel and "dead in the water." The U.S. Navy sent up P-3 Orion surveillance aircraft and had video of the scene. Gen. David Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command, said more ships would be sent to the area because "we want to ensure that we have all the capability that might be needed over the course of the coming days." U.S. officials said the guided-missile frigate USS Haliburton was among the ships en route.

Source: ECOTERRA Intl, April 11, 2009

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