Gunmen seize French ship

The French authorities said on Thursday they were investigating reports that Somali pirates using speedboats fitted with heavy guns had boarded a French cargo boat in the Gulf of Aden and kidnapped most the crew this week within sight of a village on Somalia’s northern coast. “We have seen the news dispatches reporting an incident on Monday alleging that some 15 gunmen using three speedboats had boarded the Net Express,” a French foreign ministry official told IRIN. “Our embassies in Djibouti and Nairobi are looking into this.” News reports said the incident occurred within sight of the village of Bargal, 30 km east of the port of Bossaso along the northeast coast, in the autonomous region of Puntland. The ship was described as a French-registered vessel with a crew of 10. Seven members of the crew, described mostly as Lebanese and Pakistani nationals, were taken to the village. The captain, George Attas, and two others were reportedly left aboard the ship. A local Somali newspaper reported that elders and Puntland leaders were trying to hold discussions with the armed pirates. Representatives of the Puntland region and international environmental groups have complained that international fishing boats have illegally fished the shores since the collapse of the Somali government in 1991. “This is an area of Africa notorious for its piracy, and we take all such reports extremely seriously,” a spokesman at Lloyds of London told IRIN. “Although this vessel is not listed on our registry, the information carried in the news reports is credible to us.” Last year two Finns sailing a French yacht had been abducted in the same area and released only after paying a ransom of US $60,000, AP reported. On other cases, fishing vessels and their crews have been held for lengthy periods with heavy “fines” demanded.