Somalia: Hostage Trade Clash
Somalia: Hostage Trade Clash
Authorities in the Seychelles have denied that they had agreed to swap captured pirates for three freed hostages, after the island nation released 23 suspected Somali pirates.
The three Seychelles hostages were seized by pirates after their yacht Serenity sank in poor weather in February.
The move by the Seychelles appeared to be a trade but a dispute erupted between authorities in Somalia and the Seychelles when Somali officials stopped the former hostages from returning to the Seychelles on Monday and accused the Seychelles authorities of deception.
But the Seychelles government said that it was releasing the 23 suspects, who had been captured by international warships and held on piracy charges, because it lacked the evidence needed to prosecute them.
According to Ahmed Elmi Karash, the aviation minister in Somalia’s semi-autonomous northern region of Puntland, the 23 suspects disembarked from two planes late on Sunday and the three former hostages then boarded the plane. However, planes were detained by Somali officials.
Ahmed Ali Salad, the governor of Somalia’s Mudug region, said that the crew onboard the plane misinformed Somali authorities claiming that they were carrying humanitarian supplies.
But the Seychelles authorities claimed that it was a cost effective way to use the planes to simultaneously repatriate their three citizens and that it did not imply an exchange.
The leader of Seychelles government efforts on piracy, Minister Joel Morgan said, “The release of the Seychellois hostages is not related to the repatriation of the 23 Somali men this weekend. An exchange of Seychellois and Somalis did not take place.”
Morgan also claimed that no ransom had been paid, which is known as the standard procedure for pirates to release sailors.
He also added that the two governments were in contact that the situation would soon be resolved.
Video games banned by Somalia insurgent group
Somalia insurgent group, Hezb al-Islam, has banned video games in areas under its control and promised to punish those who flout the ban
Somali rebels will ban music
Somali rebels have banned musical ringtones on their phones, including Bollywood music, which some of them loved to hear
Somali pirates capture Spanish fishing boat
The search is underway for a Spanish tuna boat that was hijacked by pirates off the Somali coast early on Friday morning.
Fatal clashes in Somali port
Rival Islamist factions in the Somali port of Kismayo have clashed, shattering a key alliance in the insurgency against the Western-backed government.
Download our Press Pack