Dutch navy ship headed for Somalia also Somali pirates demand $4 mln ransom for captured Egyptian ship

The Dutch supply ship Amsterdam leaves the northern port of Den Helder on Monday, bound for Somalia. Once there, it will take part until November in the European Union’s anti-piracy mission Atalanta. The Dutch navy’s ship The Seven Provinces is currently participating in NATO’s Ocean Shield anti-piracy operation off the Horn of Africa.

The 166 metre-long Amsterdam is primarily being deployed to keep other ships in the mission fully stocked with fuel, munitions and other supplies. It is armed with machine guns, a rapid-fire cannon, and a special radar system.The EU and NATO missions are intended to disrupt and combat piracy off the coast of Somalia. The Netherlands has already deployed the vessels De Ruyter, Evertsen, Tromp and Johan de Witt for this purpose. The Seven Provinces and the Evertsen have been deployed twice. In June, the Dutch parliament voted to extend its country’s contribution to the EU mission. The far-right Freedom Party was the only party to vote against the extension.
© Radio Netherlands Worldwide

Somali Hawiye  jihadist pirates who have been holding an Egyptian merchant ship since early August have demanded a $4 million ransom for the ship's release,
the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram reported on Sunday.The MV Suez cargo ship transporting a large batch of cement was seized by pirates in the Red Sea on August 2. The pirates took the vessel to a deserted place on the northern coast of Somalia. There are 23 sailors aboard the vessel, including 11 Egyptians, and also nationals of India, Sri-Lanka and Pakistan.
Negotiations with the pirates are being held by the ship's operator, the Egyptian company Red Sea Navigation Co., through intermediaries, the paper said.According to the paper, the company is refusing pay such a big sum, saying it is excessive, and is requiring from the pirates to bring it down to several hundred thousand U.S. dollars.According to the ship's operator, the vessel's market value does not exceed $3 million. Intermediaries, however, said that the negotiations started with the ransom sum of $20 million, the paper said Red Sea Navigation Co. already has the experience of paying a ransom for the release of its vessel. In 2008, it managed to bring down the ransom sum from $10 million to $600,000, the paper said.Somali pirates have been active off Somalia as the country has had no functioning central government for two decades. (RIA Novosti)