MOGADISHU: Canuck chopper scouts out pirates

by Barry ORegan | April 7, 2008 at 05:50 am

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Certainly not the best Port of Call if rescuers hope to get the Hostages back safely. Somalians ,may take matters into their own hands to drive home a point to France and other Nato countries it deems unfriendly, with Nato Forces hesistant to enter Somalia.
One can only hope a peaceful resolve will come out of this, most likely Somalia's answer to this resolve with be expensive.

MOGADISHU -- Canadian military forces backed the French navy yesterday as a French luxury yacht seized by pirates in the Gulf of Aden docked in the northern Somali town of Eyl with 30 crew members aboard as hostages.

A French diplomatic source said the hostages, most of them French nationals, had been provided with food and were allowed to wash. He declined to say how officials had learned the information.

The French foreign ministry said it was in close contact with the hostages' families and that attempts were being made to establish contact with the hostage-takers.

About 10 pirates stormed the 88-metre Le Ponant on Friday as it was returning, without passengers, from the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. The pirates then guided the vessel down Somalia's coast.

France's prime minister has said he hoped to avoid using force to free the crew but that no options had been ruled out. The hostages included 22 French citizens, six of them women, and some Ukrainian citizens, authorities said.

Below is another link to this story

France tries to free yacht held by pirates

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2008/04/07/5217431.html

PARIS (AP) — Elite French troops were headed to East Africa to bolster efforts to free captives of a yacht held by pirates off Somalia, a French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Monday.

A team of the GIGN, a commando force that conducts anti-terrorist and hostage rescue operations, was being sent to Djibouti to “reinforce” negotiation teams in place, spokeswoman Pascale Andreani said in an online briefing.

Pirates seized the yacht, called Le Ponant, in the Gulf of Aden on Friday. It was carrying 30 crew members, including 22 French citizens, but no passengers.

French officials made contact with the pirates overnight.

“We had confirmation that the crew was safe and sound and well-treated,” Andreani said.

“Our priority is the safety of the hostages,” she said.

French military spokesman Cmdr. Christophe Prazuck said the situation aboard the yacht remained “calm” Monday.

A French frigate was diverted from its NATO duties and has been tracking the yacht, military officials said over the weekend. An airplane dispatched from a French base in Djibouti has flown over the yacht.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warned it could take “an enormous amount of time” to settle the pirate standoff, which he called “a very serious affair.”