....the world's mightiest navy, the US Navy, can't handle the Somali
pirates. It's yet another example of how unprepared for the 21st Century
our military forces are.

Pirates Ransom Saudi Vessel; Three Ships Seized (Update1)

By Caroline Alexander and Hamsa Omar
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Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Pirates demanded a ransom for an oil- laden Saudi
supertanker amid reports three other merchant vessels have been hijacked
in one of the worst spates of attacks in the Gulf of Aden and off the
East African coast.

``Negotiators are onboard the ship and on land,'' a man identifying
himself as Farah Abd Jameh, a member of the group that hijacked the
Saudi tanker, said in an audio tape aired by Dubai-based Al Jazeera
television. ``Once they agree on the ransom, it will be taken in cash to
the oil tanker.''

Saudi Arabia's state-owned shipping line, Vela International Marine
Ltd., yesterday said it had set up negotiation teams to free the tanker,
Sirius Star, and its crew of 25, seized on Nov. 15 about 420 nautical
miles (833 kilometers) off Somalia. The vessel is carrying more than 2
million barrels of crude valued at $110 million.

Since January, at least 88 vessels have been attacked in the Gulf of
Aden, an area of 1 million square miles (2.6 million square kilometers)
flanked by Yemen and Somalia and leading to the Suez Canal. Ransom
payments have spurred raiders to step up their activities, the
International Maritime Bureau says, even as NATO, European Union,
Indian, Malaysian and Russian naval fleets patrol the area in an
anti-piracy mission.

The pirates' representative didn't say how much money his group wants
for the Sirius Star, which is anchored near Harardhare, a town in
Somalia's semi-autonomous northern Puntland region. ``We assure the
safety of the ship carrying the ransom,'' the man said in the Al Jazeera
broadcast, warning against any attempts to use counterfeit cash.

War-Torn Somalia

Pirates from war-torn Somalia, which hasn't had an effective government
since the 1991 fall of the Siad Barre regime, have asked for $1 million
ransoms on average this year, according to Chatham House, a London-based
research organization that advises mainly European governments.

Since the hijacking of the Saudi vessel, pirates in the region have
taken control of ships from Hong Kong, Greece and Thailand, Andrew
Mwangura, head of the East African Seafarers Association, said in a
phone interview from Kenya. Pirates generally use captured fishing
trawlers as staging posts for attacks further out to sea, according to
an October report by Chatham House.

Today, pirates released a Hong Kong-flagged ship and 25 crew members
captured two months ago, Agence France-Presse said.

An Indian Navy ship fired at a pirate vessel in the Gulf of Aden
yesterday, the government in New Delhi said today. The Navy's Tabar
encountered the pirate vessel 285 nautical miles southwest of Salalah in
Oman. The Tabar has been on an anti- piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden
since Nov. 2, according to the government.

Pirate Ship Fire

A fire broke out on the pirate ship ``possibly due to exploding
ammunition that was stored on the vessel,'' it said in a statement.

The clash came a week after the Indian frigate rescued the Saudi
Arabia-registered merchant vessel Timaha and a 38,000 metric-ton Indian
bulk carrier from pirates.

The Hong Kong-flagged Delight was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden
yesterday. It was carrying 36,000 metric tons of wheat to the Iranian
port of Bandar Abbas and had a crew of 25. The Thai- operated boat was
also taken yesterday off the coast of Yemen as it sailed toward the Red
Sea. The Greek Merchant Marine Ministry in Athens said it couldn't
confirm a Greek-flagged or Greek-owned vessel had been seized.

`Message to the World'

``The pirates really demonstrate unexpected things and are sending a
message to the world that they can do what they need to,'' the seafarers
association's Mwangura said.

More than 14 vessels and 250 crew members remain hostage, according to
the IMB, including a Ukrainian-crewed vessel carrying at least 30
Soviet-designed T-72 tanks bound for Kenya. That ship is anchored near
the Sirius Star in Harardhare, Colonel Abshir Abdi Jama, a national
security official in Puntland said yesterday.

Pirates are honing their techniques and using Global Positioning System
navigational aids and satellite phones to find potential targets,
according to Chatham House.

The Sirius Star, bigger than the Chrysler Building, a 77- story
Manhattan skyscraper, is the largest ship seized and the hijacking was
the farthest out to sea that Somali pirates have struck, according to
the U.S. Navy. Analysts said the chances of a military response to
rescue the ship are slim.

``Everything is possible but it would take extraordinary means and
organization, and the risk of an ecological disaster is very high,''
Dominique Montecer, director of operations at GEOS, a French risk
management company, said by phone from Paris yesterday. ``They are
sitting on a bomb.''

The U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet hasn't had any communication with the pirates
or the ship, spokesman Lieutenant Nate Christensen said by phone from
Bahrain today.

Force Shippers

Hijackers may force shippers to divert vessels from the Gulf of Aden, to
take the longer route to Europe and North America around South Africa's
Cape of Good Hope, delaying deliveries to Europe and the U.S. and adding
to costs.

Still, the Indian Ocean is vast and patrolling it is extremely
difficult, the Fifth Fleet's Christensen said.

``We patrol an area of 2.5 million square miles, from Pakistan to Kenya.
The area is extensively large and we can't be everywhere at once,'' he said.

When asked why the Sirius Star wasn't being taken back by force, he said
an armed response would require a great deal of international agreement
and cooperation.

``It's certainly a very complex environment to work in -- a
Liberian-flagged vessel, owned by a Saudi company, in Somali waters,
with so many different nationalities on board,'' Christensen said.

Firing Grappling Hooks

The pirates probably fired grappling hooks onto the supertanker's deck,
allowing them to scale the ship's 10-meter- high (33-foot) side using
rope ladders, said Roger Middleton, an analyst at Chatham House.

Ships are normally attacked by five or six pirates, though as many as 15
may have been involved this time, Middleton said. Once the pirates are
on board they're normally joined by others, he said.

Frontline Ltd., the world's largest owner of tanker ships, said it has
yet to make a final decision about sending carriers away from Somalia,
Jens Martin Jensen, interim chief executive officer of the company's
management unit, said by mobile phone from Singapore today.

Sirius Star Crew

The crew of the Sirius Star, 19 Filipinos, two Britons, two Poles, a
Saudi and a Croatian, is ``believed to be safe'' and Vela is ``working
toward their safe and speedy return,'' Vela said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia is unlikely to be considering an armed response to the
hijacking because it may endanger the crew, according to Nick Day,
London-based chief executive officer of Diligence Inc., a security and
intelligence group.

``Once in port you've got several hundred people around there, heavily
armed,'' said Day, a former member of the U.K. military's Special Boat
Service.

In any case, shippers say firepower won't rid the region of piracy.
Naval units must go after the pirates' dens and boats to reduce piracy,
they say, not just patrol the 2,400-kilometer coast waiting for raiders
to make the first move.