Piracy: Release of 26 hostages |24 October 2016
‘A job well done by all involved’
Foreign Affairs Minister Joël Morgan has extended ‘a job well done’ to all involved in the release of 26 hostages after nearly five years in captivity in Somalia.
In a statement released yesterday afternoon, Minister Morgan, who is also the chairman of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS), wrote: “It is indeed pleasing to understand that at long last, the crew of FV Naham 3 have been released from their captivity, this after the tireless work of many, and in particular the efforts of Hostage Support Partners (HSP) for Oceans Beyond Piracy. It was earlier this year at the 19th Plenary of the CGPCS, held in Victoria, Seychelles, that John Steed of Oceans Beyond Piracy, made an impassioned plea that the contact group must appreciate that while acts of piracy being committed have been greatly reduced and contained, that piracy was not at an end, this as long as hostages remained. Those attending the plenary supported this call wholeheartedly.”
He added that “today as the 26 remaining hostages of the Omani flagged vessel are going through the process to be reunited with their families, we are reminded and pay tribute to the three crew members who are not going home and who have since passed”.
“As chairman of the contact group I extend a job well done to all involved in this release. I again state that the work for 2017 remains to ensure that Somali piracy does not re-energise itself, becoming once again a scourge on our seas, and that focus remains on the handful of hostages still in captivity to bring them home safely as well,” added Minister Morgan.
John Steed, coordinator of the Hostage Support Partners (HSP) for Oceans Beyond Piracy, wrote: “We are very pleased to announce the release of the Naham 3 crew early this morning (October 22). They are currently in the safe hands of the Galmudug authorities and will be repatriated using a UN Humanitarian flight shortly and then on to their home countries. They are reported to be in reasonable condition considering their ordeal. They are all malnourished. Four are currently receiving medical treatment by a doctor in Galcayo. They have spent over four and a half years in deplorable conditions away from their families.”
He has thanked the efforts of our partners, the Galmudug authorities and the local community who made this release possible. In particular, the efforts of Leslie Edwards of Compass Risk Management who has spent the last 18 months negotiating this release, and the work of Holman Fenwick Willan LLP, should be applauded.
According to Cable News Network (CNN), the dozens of hostages freed were in a fishing vessel hijacked on March 26, 2012 roughly 65 nautical miles south of Seychelles.
Of the 29 crew members seized, one died during the hijacking and two died from illness while in captivity, according to the organisation, Oceans Beyond Piracy.
The hostages were all men from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam, it said. They were aboard the Omani-flagged fishing vessel Naham 3 when they were captured.
The Naham 3 crew members are the second longest-held hostages by Somali pirates. The longest-held hostages are four crew members of the FV Prantalay 12 vessel who were released two months shy of five years in captivity. Somali pirates seized them at sea in April 2010 and released them in February 2015.
Somali pirates and their peers have made millions in ransom money hijacking vessels in the region.
Although piracy off the coast of Somalia has plummeted in recent years, it was an international nightmare at its height, hurting economies and sending the cost of living soaring.
At the time, it cost the global economy US $18 billion a year in increased trade expenses, according to a UN study released in 2013. It decreased maritime activity in affected waters and drastically reduced tourism in surrounding nations.