MOGADISHU, Somalia_ The U.S. Navy sent more warships Monday to surround a hijacked ship loaded with Russian-made tanks and said that the cargo had been destined for unknown buyers in Sudan.
Additional U.S. destroyers and cruisers have been deployed within 10 miles (16 kilometers) of the Ukrainian vessel being held by Somali pirates because of “great concern” over the possibility of the tanks and other weapons aboard the ship falling “into the wrong hands,” said Navy Lt. Nathan Christensen, a deputy spokesman for the 5th Fleet.
American helicopters are flying over the ship in the Indian Ocean, Christensen said. Pirate spokesman Sugule Ali said Sunday that “planes” had been flying overhead. Ali said he was speaking from the deck of the Faina via a satellite phone _ and verified his location by handing the phone over to the ship’s captain, who also spoke with the AP.
Ali said his group was demanding a $20 million ransom to release the ship and its cargo. Christensen said the shipment had been headed to Sudan and not to Kenya, which had been claiming to be the arms’ destination.
“We are aware that the actual cargo was intended for Sudan, not Kenya,” Christensen said. The 5th Fleet said the ship was headed for the Kenyan port of Mombasa, but that “additional reports state the cargo was intended for Sudan.”
Christensen did not specify whether the arms were intended for the Khartoum-based government, or southern Sudan, which was granted a degree of autonomy under a 2005 peace deal that also guaranteed the oil-rich region a referendum on full independence in 2011.
U.N. officials said Monday there is no blanket arms embargo on Sudan’s government but any movement of military equipment and supplies into the Darfur region would violate a U.N. arms embargo if it were not first requested by the government and approved by the security council’s Sudan sanctions committee.
A Western diplomat in Nairobi, Kenya, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he’s not authorized to speak to the press, said the shipment was destined for southern Sudan _ not Darfur _ and did not violate the embargo.
“We will maintain a vigilant watch over the ship and remain on station while negotiations take place,” said Rear Adm. Kendall Card, commander of the task force monitoring the ship. “Our goal is to ensure the safety of the crew, to not allow off-loading of dangerous cargo and to make certain Faina can return to legitimate shipping.”
Kenya had said that the shipment, which includes T-72 battle tanks, was headed there, but Kenyan officials on Monday declined to discuss the destination of the weapons.
Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Valentyn Mandriyevsky said the ministry was not participating in the arms trade and didn’t know where the cargo was bound. A spokesman for Ukraine’s arms trader, Ukrspetexport, wouldn’t make any immediate comment.
American intelligence reports said a few days ago that their cargo’s ultimate destination was Sudan and that Kenya was only the transshipment point, said one Western official in Washington, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing classified material. He said the issue had become confused after Kenyan leaders had publicly referred to the tanks as their own.
The 5th Fleet said the Faina is owned and operated by “Kaalybe Shipping Ukraine” A woman who answered phone at Odessa-based Kaalbye Shipping Co. and declined to identify herself said the company was not involved with the Faina in any way, and suggested all calls be directed to another company, which has been identified in press reports as the ship’s operator.
The U.S. fears the armaments onboard the Ukrainian vessel may fall into the hands of al-Qaida-linked Islamic insurgents who have been fighting the shaky U.N.-backed Somali transitional government since late 2006.
Christensen said the Navy maintains “standard bridge-to-bridge communication” with Faina’s crew via DHF radio, but stressed that “we are not taking part or in any way facilitating negotiations between the pirates and the shipping company.”
The pirates has been held off Somalia’s coast since Thursday and was last reported anchored near the central town of Hobyo.
The crew is comprised of citizens from Ukraine, Russia and Latvia. It originally had 21 members but a man who said he was the captain told the AP that a Russian crew member died Sunday because of hypertension.
There have been 24 reported attacks in Somalia this year, according to the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center. Last year, U.S. naval helicopters fired on a hijacked Japanese tanker carrying 30,000 tons of benzene after they feared that pirates might try to use it as a floating bomb in a Middle Eastern oil port.
Seizing ships has become an important source of income for pirates in Somalia, which is riven between rival clan-based warlords since they overthrew a socialist dictator in 1991.
The United States has expressed opposition to all arms transfers to Sudan, which it considers a state sponsor of terrorism. U.S. officials also have warned that the transfer of lethal military equipment to state sponsors of terrorism is sanctionable under U.S. laws.
