GAROWE: Somali pirates have freed a Yemeni cargo ship they seized last week after successful talks between regional authorities, clan elders and the gunmen, a local official said on Wednesday.
A surge in attacks at sea this year in the busy Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean off Somalia has pushed up insurance costs, brought the gangs tens of millions of dollars in ransoms, and prompted foreign warships to rush to the area. “The Yemeni ship was released last night after long discussions,” Ali Abdi Aware, state minister of Somalia’’s northern Puntland province, said.
“It left Eyl and is heading to Yemen. The crew are safe and no ransom was paid.” The MV Amani, owned by Yemeni shipping firm Abu Talal, has seven sailors on board. It was seized on Nov. 25 as it carried 507 tonnes of steel from Yemen’s Mukalla port to Socotra Island.
Yemeni ambassador to Somalia has travelled to the region with Somali president Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed to push for the release of the ship which is partly owned by Somali businessmen.
Nearly 100 ships have been attacked in the region while nearly 40 of them have been hijacked, with nearly half the figure still in the hands of Somali pirates.
