(NSI News Source Info) February 6, 2009: Somali pirates freed a Ukrainian ship carrying tanks and other heavy weapons Thursday after receiving a $3.2 million ransom. The U.S. Navy watched the pirates go but didn't act because the pirates still hold almost 150 people from other crews hostage.
The seizure of the MV Faina was one of the most brazen in a surge of pirate attacks on shipping off the Somali coast. Vessels from the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet quickly surrounded it after it was seized in September, to make sure the cargo did not get into the hands of Somali insurgent groups believed to have links to al-Qaida. 
In this Sept. 29, 2008, file photograph originally provided by the U.S. Navy, the pirated merchant ship MV Faina is seen from a U.S. Navy guided-missile cruiser in the Indian Ocean. A ransom has been...paid amounting $3.2 Million.
U.S. seamen were inspecting the pirates' departing boats to make sure they weren't taking weapons from the Faina's cargo, Mikhail Voitenko, a spokesman for the ship's owners, said Thursday.
But the Navy was not taking action against the pirates because it did not want members of other crews still in captivity to be harmed, said Cmdr. Jane Campbell, a spokeswoman for the 5th Fleet in Bahrain.
"Even when you release Faina, there are still 147 mariners held hostage by armed pirates," Campbell told The Associated Press. "We're concerned for their well-being."
The captain of the MV Faina, Viktor Nikolsky, said later Thursday the ship was under the protection of the U.S. Navy and will head to Mombasa, Kenya.
He said all crew members need medical attention.
Pirate spokesman Sugule Ali told the AP by satellite phone that the pirates were leaving the ship slowly because the waters are "a bit turbulent." He spoke from the central Somali coastal town of Harardhere, near where the MV Faina had been anchored.
Ali said his group was paid a ransom of $3.2 million, which he said was dropped by plane.
Voitenko said the ransom was far below the pirates' original demand of $20 million.
The MV Faina was loaded with 33 Soviet-designed battle tanks and crates of small arms. In the past, diplomats in the region have said the cargo was destined for southern Sudan, something the autonomous region has denied.
Spokesman Alfred Mutua repeated the Kenyan government's claim to the cargo Thursday.
Nina Karpachova, Ukraine's top human rights official, said MV Faina crew is comprised of 17 Ukrainians, two Russians and a Latvian.
"It's understandable that their health is poor and they are psychologically exhausted," she said.
Piracy has taken an increasing toll on international shipping in the key water link between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. Pirates made an estimated $30 million hijacking ships for ransom last year, seizing 42 vessels off Somalia's 1,900-mile (3,000-kilometer) coastline.
Although attempts to hijack ships remain steady at around 15 a month, analysts say the pirates are proving less successful. The pirates took two ships in December and three ships since the beginning of this year, compared with seven in November and five in October.
The lower rate of success follows the move by several countries to send warships to deter pirate attacks, said Graeme Gibbon Brooks, managing director of the British company Dryad Maritime Intelligence Service Ltd.
The unseasonably bad weather was also a factor, he said.
But Brooks said the pirates were showing a worrying new sophistication, jamming emergency frequencies with Arabic music or sending out false distress calls to lure warships away.
Somalia does not have a coast guard or navy because it has not had a functioning government since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. They then turned on each other, reducing Somalia to chaos.
In this Sept. 29, 2008, file photograph originally provided by the U.S. Navy, the pirated merchant ship MV Faina is seen from a U.S. Navy guided-missile cruiser in the Indian Ocean. A ransom has been...paid amounting $3.2 Million.
U.S. seamen were inspecting the pirates' departing boats to make sure they weren't taking weapons from the Faina's cargo, Mikhail Voitenko, a spokesman for the ship's owners, said Thursday.
But the Navy was not taking action against the pirates because it did not want members of other crews still in captivity to be harmed, said Cmdr. Jane Campbell, a spokeswoman for the 5th Fleet in Bahrain.
"Even when you release Faina, there are still 147 mariners held hostage by armed pirates," Campbell told The Associated Press. "We're concerned for their well-being."
The captain of the MV Faina, Viktor Nikolsky, said later Thursday the ship was under the protection of the U.S. Navy and will head to Mombasa, Kenya.
He said all crew members need medical attention.
Pirate spokesman Sugule Ali told the AP by satellite phone that the pirates were leaving the ship slowly because the waters are "a bit turbulent." He spoke from the central Somali coastal town of Harardhere, near where the MV Faina had been anchored.
Ali said his group was paid a ransom of $3.2 million, which he said was dropped by plane.
Voitenko said the ransom was far below the pirates' original demand of $20 million.
The MV Faina was loaded with 33 Soviet-designed battle tanks and crates of small arms. In the past, diplomats in the region have said the cargo was destined for southern Sudan, something the autonomous region has denied.
Spokesman Alfred Mutua repeated the Kenyan government's claim to the cargo Thursday.
Nina Karpachova, Ukraine's top human rights official, said MV Faina crew is comprised of 17 Ukrainians, two Russians and a Latvian.
"It's understandable that their health is poor and they are psychologically exhausted," she said.
Piracy has taken an increasing toll on international shipping in the key water link between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. Pirates made an estimated $30 million hijacking ships for ransom last year, seizing 42 vessels off Somalia's 1,900-mile (3,000-kilometer) coastline.
Although attempts to hijack ships remain steady at around 15 a month, analysts say the pirates are proving less successful. The pirates took two ships in December and three ships since the beginning of this year, compared with seven in November and five in October.
The lower rate of success follows the move by several countries to send warships to deter pirate attacks, said Graeme Gibbon Brooks, managing director of the British company Dryad Maritime Intelligence Service Ltd.
The unseasonably bad weather was also a factor, he said.
But Brooks said the pirates were showing a worrying new sophistication, jamming emergency frequencies with Arabic music or sending out false distress calls to lure warships away.
Somalia does not have a coast guard or navy because it has not had a functioning government since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. They then turned on each other, reducing Somalia to chaos.
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