Pirates holding four Pinoy seamen in Somalia 'split up'

A pirate gang that is holding six crewmembers of a ship - four of them Filipinos - since January 2010 has split up following a dispute in ransom negotiations, a Somalian news site reported.

 

The news site Somalia Report said the fight resulted in the six crewmembers - four Filipinos and two Danes - being brought to Garacad area in Somalia.

 

“The issue is that the pirates had not signed a contract, which prompted distrust between the various pirate commanders involved. Fatxi and Xaye Hurde, the gang leaders, were planning to release the hostages for $4 million, but Ilyagoon suspected that the actual ransom amount was higher," Somalia Report quoted Ali Jareer, a member of the pirate gang, as saying.

 

He said that while there were no casualties in the fight, Ilyagoon and some of his special guards managed to grab the hostages and move them to Garacad last Saturday.

 

The six crewmembers belong to the MV Leopard, which was seized on Jan. 12, 2010.

 

But shortly after pirates boarded the vessel, a Japanese maritime patrol aircraft arrived at the scene, prompting the pirates to escape from the vessel with the crew onto a nearby mothership.

 

Somalia Report quoted a pirate in Harardheere as saying Ilyagoon moved the hostages to the outskirts of Garacad, where his clan, the Dir, is more dominant.

 

Fatxi and Xayle Hurde are both from the Sacad clan. The group is one of largest and most powerful operating out of Hobyo and Harardheere.

 

"The incident provides some interesting insight into pirate group dynamics. While it is widely believed that Somalia's social structures are rigidly built around clan lines, there are plethora of exceptions, particularly within the pirate community," Somalia Report said.

 

It added its sources have speculated that Fatxi and Xayle Hurde are planning to seize back the hostages, and return to Hobyo.

 

Such a move could provoke a clash between the Dir and Sacad clans, it said.

 

"While the rift is unlikely to spread beyond the individual gangs involved, some have claimed that the disagreement could escalate given longstanding rivalries between the two clans. This particular issue is a criminal one, however, and has no roots in historical clan conflicts, so the disagreement is unlikely to galvanise broader clan populations," it added.

 

If the ransom negotiations are in the final stages, as claimed by pirate sources in Hobyo, the prospect of losing access to however many millions of dollars could encourage the two sides to significantly reinforce their security, Somalia Report said. — RSJ, GMA News