Extra US forces sail to hijacked arms ship

More US Navy forces were sent to surround a hijacked ship loaded with Russian-made tanks today.

Extra destroyers and cruisers were deployed within 10 miles of the Ukrainian vessel Faina being held by Somali pirates because of “great concern” over the possibility of the tanks and other weapons aboard the ship falling “into the wrong hands,” said a spokesman for the 5th Fleet.

American helicopters were flying over the ship in the Indian Ocean after the pirates demanded 20 million dollars to release the ship and its cargo.

The navy spokesman said the weapons had been bound for Sudan and not Kenya, which had been claiming to be the arms’ destination.

The 5th Fleet said the ship was headed for the Kenyan port of Mombassa, but that “additional reports state the cargo was intended for Sudan”.

It did not specify whether the arms were intended for the Khartoum-based government, or southern Sudan, which was granted a degree of autonomy under a 2005 peace deal that also guaranteed the oil-rich region a referendum on full independence in 2011.

The UN has imposed an arms embargo on weapons headed to Sudan’s Darfur conflict zone. The ban does not cover other weapons sales to the governments in Khartoum or southern Sudan.

“We will maintain a vigilant watch over the ship and remain on station while negotiations take place,” said Rear Admiral Kendall Card, commander of the task force monitoring the ship.

“Our goal is to ensure the safety of the crew, to not allow off-loading of dangerous cargo and to make certain Faina can return to legitimate shipping.”

Kenya had said that the shipment, which includes T-72 battle tanks, was headed there.

A Ukrainian Defence Ministry spokesman said the ministry was not participating in the arms trade and did not know where the cargo was bound.

American intelligence reports said a few days ago that the cargo’s ultimate destination was Sudan and that Kenya was only a staging point.

The US fears the arms onboard the Faina may fall into the hands of al Qaida-linked Islamic insurgents who have been fighting the shaky UN-backed Somali transitional government since late 2006.

The 21-member crew held off Somalia’s coast since Thursday is compromised of citizens from Ukraine, Russia and Latvia.

The pirates anchored the vessel off Somalia’s coast near the central town of Hobyo.

There have been 24 reported attacks off Somalia this year, according to the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting centre. Last year, US naval helicopters fired on a hijacked Japanese tanker carrying 30,000 tons of benzene after they feared that pirates might try to use it as a floating bomb in a Middle Eastern oil port.

Seizing ships has become an important source of income for pirates in Somalia, which is riven between rival clan-based warlords since they overthrew a socialist dictator in 1991.