$2m Ransom for two fishermen
Somali pirates holding the two Seychellois hostages in Somalia have asked for a ransom of one million US dollars for each hostage to set them free, Le Seychellois Hebdo (LSH) can reveal.
The news came as the negotiations for the release of the two Seychellois fishermen, Rolly Tambara and Mark
Songoire, begun early this week.The men are aged 69 and 62 years old respectively and both reside at Belvedere. They were taken on 2nd November.
Earlier in the week, the boat owner, Dyan Jeremie, said he received a call on Sunday night around 7.40pm from a hostage-taker asking for a substantial sum.
“Someone speaking in broken English asked me for a large ransom. I informed him that I was not in a position to offer him any money. I told him that we are from a poor family and we cannot afford to pay any ransom,” Jeremie said on SBC.
Speaking on SBC a day later, the Chairperson of the High Level Committee for Piracy, Joel Morgan, declined to reveal the sum the pirates were asking.
The Seychellois authorities have consistently insisted that they do not allow payments to hostage-takers. According to a source who has been involved in previous hostage negotiations, pirates start negotiations at a very high figure but eventually come down during negotiations.
While the consequences for individuals caught up as pirate hostages are dire, the burden on the country’s financial means is also very great. Speaking to the UK Independent newspaper in February 2010, Minister Joel Morgan said in 2009 the anti-piracy effort cost $9m out of a total annual budget of $200m. The figure is reported to have climbed to four percent of the GDP last year.
The UN has estimated that the Somali gangs cost the world economy £4-7 billion a year with 4,185 seafarers attacked last year. More than 1,000 were taken hostage while 516 were used as human shields.
Meanwhile, the families of the two Seychellois hostages are hoping that, as was the case for the twelve Seychellois
seafarers who have been held captive in Somalia, the pirates keep their word that they have no intention of harming them.
Michel Wants Military Intervention in Somalia
With a tone of resentment, President Michel for the first time this week indicated that he wants to see the international community intervening militarily in the failed east African state of Somalia.
Through the UN, the international community should do more than they are actually doing to solve the problem at its source, he said.
“We’ve seen the international community intervening in many countries. They have intervened in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and wherever else, but how about Somalia? They’ve allowed Somalia to drift and today there’s no law and order in that country. Now Seychelles is suffering from the consequences.”
Calling the pirates ‘wasps’, the president stopped short of expressing more commitment of our own resources. Kenya’s stance of sending military personnel inside Somalia to attack al-Shabaab militants has been seen as a strong show of commitment. This has raised the question of whether Seychelles can be involved militarily, such as through engaging the SPDF in the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia. Meanwhile. President Michel and Minister Joel Morgan have revealed plans to use Gurkhas to ensure security for fishing boats. Whatever the merits of
this plan, it is a disappointment that we do not focus on building up our own defence capacity, with greater involvement of the SPDF in the anti-piracy efforts. Surely, our own forces can do more in the long run, with resources and specialised training to assume the security of our territory and our seas.
LSH editorial team joins our readers to express our support and solidarity to the families and friends of Mr Tambara and Mr Songoire and we pray for their safe return.
Source: Le Seychellois Hebdo 11-11-11