Islamists say they'll fight Somali pirates

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Islamists say they'll fight Somali pirates

By MOHAMED SHEIKH NOR, Associated Press Writer Mohamed Sheikh Nor,

Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 13 mins ago

MOGADISHU, Somalia – A radical Islamic group in Somalia said Friday

it will fight the pirates holding a Saudi supertanker loaded with

$100 million worth of crude oil.

Abdelghafar Musa, a fighter with al-Shabab who claims to speak on

behalf of all Islamic fighters in the Horn of Africa nation, said

ships belonging to Muslim countries should not be seized.

" We are really sorry to hear that the Saudi ship has been held in

Somalia. We will fight them (the pirates), " Musa told AP Television

News.

In the past two weeks, Somalia's increasingly brazen pirates have

seized eight vessels including the huge Saudi supertanker. Several

hundred crew are now in the hands of Somali pirates. The pirates dock

the hijacked ships near the eastern and southern Somali coast and

negotiate for ransom.

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said Friday that the Saudi government

was not negotiating with pirates and would not do so, but that what

the ship's owners did was up to them.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991. When an

umbrella Islamic group, which included the al-Shabab, controlled most

of southern Somalia for six months in 2006, there were few reports of

piracy.

The U.S., however, considers al-Shabab a terrorist organization and

accuses the group of harboring the al-Qaida-linked terrorists who

allegedly blew up the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998,

killing more than 230 people.

Now the umbrella Islamic group is split. But in recent weeks

Islamists have again seized control of most of southern Somalia with

al-Shabab holding the largest territory.

Kenya's foreign affairs minister said Friday that all nations need to

work together to immediately end the increased piracy because it can

disrupt world trade, adding that the pirates have earned as much as

$150 million over the past year.

Most of the attacks have taken place the Gulf of Aden that links the

Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea, through

which about 20,000 vessels pass each year.

" Major trading countries, India, Malaysia, China, your vessels are in

danger. Our major trading partners, Germany, Britain and others, our

cargo is in danger. We must act now and not tomorrow, " Moses

Wetangula told diplomats meeting in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, to

discuss the increased threat of piracy.

He also called on ship owners not to pay ransom when their vessels

are hijacked because such payments have emboldened the pirates.

The Somali pirates have the support of their communities and rogue

members of the government. Often dressed in military fatigues,

pirates travel in open skiffs with outboard engines, working with

larger ships that tow them far out to sea. They use satellite

navigational and communications equipment and an intimate knowledge

of local waters, clambering aboard commercial vessels with ladders

and grappling hooks.

They are typically armed with automatic weapons, anti-tank rocket

launchers and grenades — weaponry that is readily available

throughout Somalia.

Also Friday, one of the world's largest oil tanker companies warned

that it may divert cargo shipments, which would boost costs up to 40

percent.

Frontline Ltd., which ferries five to 10 tankers of crude a month

through the treacherous Gulf of Aden, said it was negotiating a

change of shipping routes with some of its customers, including oil

giants Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP and Chevron.

Jensen, Frontline's acting chief executive, said that sending

tankers around South Africa instead would extend the trip by 40

percent.

Bermuda-based Frontline plans to make a decision whether to change

shipping routes within a week, Jensen said.

" It's not only our costs, but also those of the people who have a

$100 million cargo on board, " Jensen said. " We're not going to make a

unilateral decision so we've been debating this with our customers. "

A.P Moller-Maersk, the world's largest container-shipping company, on

Thursday ordered some of its slower vessels to avoid the Gulf of Aden

and head the long way around Africa.

The Copenhagen-based company said it was telling ships " without

adequate speed, " mainly tankers, to sail the long route around Africa

unless they can join convoys with naval escorts in the gulf, group

executive Soeren Skou said.

The company didn't say how many ships would be affected by the

decision, but said it usually has eight tanker transits in the area

per month.

And Norwegian shipping group Odfjell SE on Wednesday ordered its more

than 90 tankers to avoid the Gulf of Aden because of the risk of

attack by pirates.

___

Associated Press writers ph Mwihia in Nairobi, Kenya, and

Kennedy in Singapore contributed to this report.