Somali pirates to release Ukrainian weapons ship

February 4, 2009 (NAIROBI) — Somali pirates will release very shortly a Ukrainian cargo ship captured off the coast of Kenya last September, after having received a ransom of $3.2 million.

Somali pirates hijacked last September a Belize-flagged ship “Faina” as it neared the Kenyan port of Mombasa carrying a cargo of 33 Soviet-type T-72 tanks, grenade launchers and ammunition allegedly to Southern Sudan army, the SPLA.

A spokesman for the ship’s owners, Mikhail Voitenko, told the Russian TV that the ransom had been delivered to the pirates. “A pile of pirates are counting the haul on the Faina. I hope that nothing will be disrupted and the sailors will soon be able to disembark,” he added.

The ship could be released Thursday.

However, Andrew Mwangura the head of a Kenyan-based piracy monitoring group, the East African Seafarers Assistance Programme, who alleged that weapon shipment had been destined to the SLPA and had been detained by the Kenyan authorities, was not able to confirm the release of Faina.

Kenya said it had bought the tanks for its army and the SPLA denied any relation with the hijacked weapon cargo, but Lt. Nathan Christensen, a deputy spokesman for the U.S. Navy’s Bahrain-based 5th Fleet said that the shipment of seized ship was destined to South Sudan.

In Ukraine, the seizure of Faina triggered an illegal arms trade scandal as the Russian captain of kidnapped vessel died of a heart attack shortly after the pirates boarded the ship.

The pirates in a first time demanded a ransom of $US 35 million to free the weapons with the 20-man crew.

(ST)