Marines join counter-piracy mission

Members of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit are participating in counter-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia, a spokesman for Marine Corps headquarters said Thursday. Amphibious transport dock San Antonio, the flagship for Combined Task Force 151, is carrying a reinforced Marine platoon, said 2nd Lt. Josh Diddams. Officials will not say how many Marines are on the ship, which left Camp Lejeune, N.C., in late August with the Norfolk, Va.-based Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group. A typical Marine infantry platoon consists of about 40 troops. Task Force 151 is a multinational force recently organized to conduct land and air attacks on pirate bases along Somalia’s coast, where last year more than 40 vessels were hijacked, including a Saudi tanker carrying $100 million worth of crude oil and a Ukrainian ship loaded with tanks and other weapons bound for Kenya. The task force is operating in the Gulf of Aden, .more..http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/01/marine_pirate_mission_012209w/

Faina representative: Ransom to be paid soon for Ukrainian crew's release


The ransom for the release of the Faina, a Ukrainian ship seized by Somali pirates, has been agreed, the ship-owner's representative, Viktor Murenko, said at a press conference on Thursday. He said that a UN Security Council resolution foresees restrictions on the sum of ransoms. Murenko said that these restrictions had been removed thanks to Ukraine's representatives in the UN Security Council."Only yesterday at 0900, the sum of the ransom was raised to the level they [the pirates] demanded," he said. He refused to specify the amount and added that it had been agreed and that the crewmembers would be soon released.As reported, the Ukrainian ship Faina was hijacked by Somali pirates in neutral waters outside Kenya on September 25, 2008. The vessel was sailing under the flag of Belize to Kenya, with around 30 T-72 tanks and spare parts for them on board. There were 21 crewmembers aboard the ship - 17 Ukrainians, three Russians, and one Latvian citizen. One Russian citizen has since died.
The ship-owner is Iraeli citizen Vadym Alperin.