Russia warship heads to Africa after pirate attack

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-27 08:16

"Obviously, we are deeply concerned," said Lt. Nate Christensen, a spokesman for the Bahrain-based US 5th Fleet, declining to provide details.

Whitman, the Pentagon spokesman, said the United States was worried about the cargo.

"A ship carrying cargo of that nature being hijacked off the coast of Somalia is something that should concern us, and it does concern us," he said.

Paul Cornish, head of the international security program at the London-based think-tank Chatham House said the tanks would be difficult to sell on to a third party -- private buyers or warlords, for example -- because of the logistics involved with keeping them operational.

"It's not like (stealing) a container full of machine guns, where all you need is a tin of bicycle oil," he said.

Roger Middleton, another Chatham House researcher, said it was unlikely the pirates knew there were tanks aboard the Faina, and also said unloading the cargo would be difficult.

"Most of their attacks are based on opportunity. So if they see something that looks attackable and looks captureable, they'll attack it," he said.

Middleton said it was unclear how the pirates might react if confronted by military action, noting that they have fled from authorities in the past. On the other hand, he said, they are usually well-armed and organized and are based in an unstable country -- Somalia.

"It could potentially get pretty messy," he said.

Long a hazard for maritime shippers -- particularly in the Indian Ocean and its peripheries -- high-seas piracy has triggered greater alarm since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States because of its potential as a funding and supply source for global terrorism.

Pirate attacks worldwide have surged this year and Africa remains the world's top piracy hotspot, with 24 reported attacks in Somalia and 18 in Nigeria this year, according to the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center.

The issue burst into international view Sept. 15 when Somali pirates took two French citizens captive aboard a luxury yacht and helicopter-borne French commandos then swooped in to rescue them.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy this month called on other nations to move boldly against pirates, calling the phenomenon "a genuine industry of crime."

In June, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution allowing ships of foreign nations that cooperate with the Somali government to enter their territorial waters "for the purpose of repressing acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea."

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