Hijackers want $1.1m ransom for Dutch ship

BOSASSO, Somalia - Gunmen holding a Dutch-owned ship off northern Somalia demanded a $1.1 million ransom for the vessel on Tuesday, a day after the U.N. Security Council gave countries the right to combat piracy off the coast.
The MV Amiya Scan, managed by the Dutch Reider Shipping BV, was hijacked by Somali pirates on May 25 as it made its way to Romania from the Kenyan port city of Mombasa.
'The pirates holding the Dutch ship demand a ransom of $ 1.1 million while the owners say they are willing to pay $700,000,' said a close ally of the pirates who gave his name only as Abdullahi. The company was not immediately available to comment.
'Negotiations are ongoing and the crew are in good health,' Abdullahi added about the nine Russians and Filipinos.
Abdullahi said he took food and other goods to the gunmen who were holed up in Eyl, a fishing town along the Indian Ocean.
Hijackings are common in the chaotic country's un-patrolled waters, where pirates normally treat their hostages well in anticipation of hefty ransoms.
The Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Monday authorising some countries to conduct anti-piracy actions in Somali waters after a surge in hijackings.
Late last week, Somali pirates seized two freighters although little was known about the vessels, residents said.
Hijacking ships is good business in Somalia which has been without an effective central government since 1991.
The long-delayed resolution finally passed after a deal was struck with Indonesia to limit the anti-piracy activities only to Somalia. The resolution allows foreign marine and security forces to enter Somali waters and use 'all necessary means'.
Some Somali residents praised the resolution.
'I think it is not an easy task to eradicate pirates from Somali waters, but Western countries can do a lot about it if they mean what they say,' said Abdi Naeem Olad, a 40-year-old Mogadishu resident.
But others were sceptical that the resolution would have an impact on piracy that has made that section of the Indian Ocean one of the world's most dangerous waterways.
'If they can really stop the piracy it will be good. But I don't think they can. That's mere talk,' said Abdirizak Ali Ismail, a resident of the northern port city of Bosasso.
Britain's U.N. envoy John Sawers said on a trip to Djibouti the civil strife that has engulfed Somalia for nearly 17 years had caused the Horn of Africa nation to become a haven for 'terrorists', 'smugglers', 'pirates' and 'people from outside Somalia to abuse the country'.
'We need to bring an end to all that,' he told reporters.