Free abducted sailors, countries urged

DUBAI // Maritime aid workers and families of sailors freed from the captivity of pirates have urged governments to step up the pressure on pirate gangs in securing the release of 38 seafarers, who were abducted by Somalian pirates four years ago.

Two weeks after a maritime charity group secured the release of 11 crew members of the MV Albedo cargo ship, they have now urged governments, including the UAE’s, to help free the remaining captives.

“Countries can come together and lobby for their release,” said Nareman Jawaid, a Dubai resident and daughter of Jawaid Khan, the captain of the MV Albedo, who, along with six Pakistani crew members, was freed from captivity in August 2012.

They were released after their families collected a portion of the ransom that the pirates demanded.

“In anti-piracy conferences there should be an effort to get the remaining crew back,” said Ms Jawaid. “This can be done by the UAE government and others, because there is no reason you cannot leverage existing relationships if you have the influence and the power to save lives.

“This will alleviate the suffering that other families are going through. Governments of the [hijack victims] are responsible for protecting their citizens and can intervene. These families have lost four years of their lives, it’s as if they are living in limbo.”

The Malaysian-flagged MV Albedo was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden after leaving Jebel Ali port in November 2010. The ship sank last July and four Sri Lankan crew members were reported missing.

The Somalian pirates were holding seven Bangladeshi crew members, two Sri Lankans, an Indian and an Iranian on land.

The 11 sailors were freed on June 8 after a rift between pirate gangs over a small settlement negotiated by the Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Programme (MPHRP).

The 38 abducted sailors in Somalia include four Thai fishermen, seven Indian crew members of the MT Asphalt Venture, and 27 sailors off the MV Neham 3, who hail from Taiwan, China, Cambodia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia.

“The UAE government has strong links with the federal Somali government and regional governments, and we’re asking regional governments to do all they can to secure the release of the 38 men,” said Peter Swift, the chairman of the MPHRP.

“The regional administrations are probably in touch with the clan elders, and the senior community members can, at a humanitarian level, call for their release.

“We have stressed that there is no money to give because in all these cases the [ship] owners have walked away, there is no insurance and the families are poor.”

The UAE has consistently supported attempts to bring peace to Somalia. It has organised international piracy conferences and backed programmes to strengthen and provide employment to local communities.

MPHRP workers provide counselling to the victims’ families, and the group has contributed towards their education fees, medical costs and rent payments.

In India, the government has organised a recruitment fair for ship owners and associations to provide employment opportunities to seafarers.

Despite a drop in pirate attacks in the past year, continued vigilance at sea was vital, said John Steed, a retired British colonel who works with the United Nation’s hostage relief programme.

Col Steed played a key role in the MV Albedo negotiations. “It can so easily go backwards,” he said.

“Ships must avoid high-risk areas. Our plea to the shipping industry is to keep taking necessary precautions to protect their men or we will have more ships taken and will be back to square one.”

Captain Khan said he empathised with the families of the 38 hostages.

“My nightmares are lessening and the agony of our families has lightened,” he said.

“But for the other families there is a wound they must be feeling, it’s a weight inside and it hurts all the time.”

rtalwar@thenational.ae