By Ahmad Shihadah

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SA’NA, Yemen – Somali pirates have freed a Yemeni ship with 11 surviving sailors of a 12 men crew, which was hijacked on 24 March in Somali waters, Yemen’s Interior Ministry confirmed on Monday.
FV AZ ZABANIYAH had left al-Shiher port in Hadramout in late February, was captured off Somalia’s northern coast, while one of its 12 crew members was killed during the attack.

Security authorities in the Yemen New Agency reported that $5 million payment was paid as ransom. Piracy has becomes a profitable trade in the east African lawless country, a lucrative venture that has attracted many young Somali men.

Yemen’s south-east province of Hadramout confirmed that the capture took place while the Yemeni fishing vessel was in the Somali territorial waters. Among the 12 crew members were eight Yemeni fishermen, two Somalis and two Tanzanian nationals, while Othman Mohamed of Tanzania was killed during the operation.

Analysts wonder what the vessel carried in order to achieve such a high ransom. “Though the larger fishing vessels easily can rip from the seas a tuna catch valued such much, we feel that there was something else carried on that fishy boat,” a regional analyst stated. A United Nations imposed sanctions regime for Somalia and Eritrea, including an arms embargo,  provides rich opportunities for blockade breaking vessels.

The analyst also reported that a South Korean chemical Tanker MT DL COSMOS, which was missing after an unsuccessful piracy attack off Tanzania, arrived now safely in Mombasa, Kenya. “They just maintained a communications black-out,” he said.

For more information, please see:

Bernama – Somali Pirates Fee Yemeni Ship – 5 March 2010

Saba Net – Somali Pirates Free Yemeni Ship – 5 March 2010

APA – Somali Pirates Release Yemen Owned Ship – 5 March 2010

Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor – Somali Sea-Shifta Free Yemeni Vessel For Ransom – 5 April 2010