A Russian naval destroyer on Tuesday seized 29 suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia, the defense ministry said.
“The Admiral Panteleev [destroyer] captured Tuesday at 1412 GMT a boat carrying pirates. In total, 29 people were arrested,” the ministry said in a statement.
“Seven Kalashnikov machine-guns, handguns of different calibres, equipment including satellite navigation devices and a large number of empty shells were discovered on board the boat,” the statement said, adding that an investigation had been opened.
PHOTO: AFP
These arrests would dwarf the numbers seized in other operations by international military forces patrolling the waters off the Gulf of Aden in the last year.
The question of where any eventual trial for the 29 suspects might take place will also come to the fore.
Trials relating to a spiraling upsurge in pirate attacks in the region over the last year are largely being hosted by Kenya, following agreements with the EU, the US and Britain.
Eleven Somalis are awaiting trial in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa for piracy after their high-seas arrest by the French navy.
But a Somali teenager captured by US forces in a high-seas drama is to stand trial in New York on piracy charges — the first in the US for a century — that could put him in jail for life.
Despite international naval missions — including from NATO and the EU — ransom-hunting Somalis have tackled ever-bigger and more distant prizes.
Meanwhile, Somali gunmen freed two European aid workers on Tuesday without receiving a ransom, after holding them hostage for nine days in one of the world’s most dangerous places for relief agencies.
Attacks on humanitarian staff in the country have cut their ability to help in one of the world’s worst emergencies. More than 1 million Somalis have been uprooted by fighting in two years and 3 million survive on food aid.
Gunmen seized a Belgian doctor and Dutch nurse working for Doctors without Borders (MSF) on April 19 in the central region of Bakol, where the pair had been carrying out a nutrition study.
Dutchman Kees Keus said he and his colleague had been held prisoner in the bush since then.
“We are happy and we are on our way to our families. We were released by the authorities and the elders of the area where MSF is working,” Keus said in an interview.
Dag Horntvedt, MSF’s interim head of mission for Somalia, said the charity was relieved that the two men were safe.
“We are now working on getting the two reunited with their relatives and friends as quickly as possible,” Horntvedt said.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
RSS