France makes global force plea to tackle piracy

FRANCE is to ask the United Nations to set up a dedicated international force to combat piracy off Somalia and in the Straits of Malacca.

Speaking after the liberation of the 30-strong crew of the cruise ship Le Ponant on Friday, French prime minister Francois Fillon, said that France was “naturally” ready to participate in such a force.

The French presidency had indicated earlier that France would establish informal contacts immediately with its 14 fellow members of the UN Security Council with a view to organising an international initiative to combat piracy.

It added that it hoped to be able to submit a written proposition to them in the course of this week.

Jean-David Levitte, diplomatic adviser to President Nicolas Sarkozy, indicated that France was particularly concerned about the situation off east Africa, which he said did not have the same resources as the states bordering on the Straits of Malacca.

The crew of the Le Ponant are due to arrive in Paris tonight after having made the voyage from Garacad in Somalia, where the vessel was being held, to Djibouti aboard the helicopter carrier, Jeanne d’Arc.

Mr. Fillon said that French forces had succeeded in recovering about half of the $2m ransom understood to have been paid by the CMA CGM shipping group, which owns the Le Ponant via its subsidiary Compagnie des Iles du Ponant.

It was not clear, however, what France intended to do with the six pirates it captured in the course of the helicopter operation carried out ashore after the crew of the Le Ponant had been liberated.

French defence minister Hervé Morin said that a legal study of the question was being carried out but added that it “seemed that there is no juridical obstacle to trying the pirates in France.

The master of the Le Ponant, Patrick Marchesseau, has revealed that the vessel’s crew tried to repulse the pirates with fire hoses when the vessel was attacked but that the pirates had rapidly got alongside and opened fire.

He said that the incident had begun after the crew had spotted what appeared to be a Korean or Taiwanese fishing vessel immobile in its path.

The Le Ponant circumnavigated the vessel but, subsequently, found two launches approaching it at speed.

Captain Marchesseau said that the vessel had not suffered major damage in the course of its captivity, apart from some pillaging and two window panes broken by a pirate who fired five shots accidentally while cleaning his weapon.

He also revealed that he had been able to keep a line of communication open to the outside without the pirates being aware of it.

CMA CGM said in a communiqué on Friday evening that the safety of the crew had been the “absolute priority” throughout the operation.

“Our thoughts today are with the crew and their families. We have to pay tribute to their courage in this difficult ordeal, and congratulate Captain Marchesseau for his self-control and great professionalism.”

The company added that it hoped that Europe would be able to assure the safe passage of ships in the region in future.

FRENCH FORCES CATCH LE PONANT PIRATES

Monday, 14 April 2008

FRENCH armed forces captured six suspected Somali pirates on Friday and reportedly retrieved half of the ransom paid for the release of a luxury sailing cruise ship. The pirates hijacked the French-flag Le Ponant and held it and its 30-strong crew for a week while negotiations took place.

At the same time French special forces were deployed to the area and moved in once the ransom had been handed over and the crew were safe. The French action was sanctioned by the Somali national and Puntland provincial governments.

The vessel had been moored at Garacade, near Eyl in the northern region of Puntland but was reported being sailed to Djibouti following its release.

Earlier two local government militiamen been killed in a gun battle when local militia tried to stop the pirates entering another harbour in Puntland province.

Commandos sent to free yacht crew

(This aerial photo provided by the French Defense Ministry on Saturday, April 5, 2008, and taken Friday, April 4, 2008 shows gunmen, top left on deck, aboard French cruise ship Le Ponant off Somalia’s coast.)

Crack French troops are being sent to help free the crew of a luxury yacht seized by pirates off Somalia.

A team of the GIGN commando force that conducts anti-terrorist and hostage rescue operations is being sent to Djibouti to “reinforce” negotiation teams in place, the French foreign ministry said.

Pirates took over 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.

A French frigate, Le Commandant Bouan, was diverted from Nato duties and has been tracking the yacht.

French officials have made contact with the pirates.

“We had confirmation that the crew was safe and sound and well-treated,” a foreign ministry spokeswoman said.

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

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warned it could take “an enormous amount of time” to settle the pirate stand-off. President Nicolas Sarkozy is due to meet the families of the French crew members on Tuesday.

Sea Diamond, one year on

Residents in Santorini will gather today to demand the removal of the sunken Sea Diamond ferry that still contains hundreds of tons of fuel, exactly one year after the cruise ship sunk off the popular island. Boat owners and local fisherman will hold a protest at sea to demand the removal of the ship, that poses a serious ecological threat to the area. Louis Hellenic Cruises, the owner of the Sea Diamond, has said its insurance will not cover the cost of a salvage operation, as the ferry operator was not responsible for the accident. The operator has blamed inaccurate maps for the ship running aground on a reef.

Pirates take French yacht crew hostage off Somalia

Pirates boarded a French luxury cruise yacht off the coast of Somalia and took its entire 30-member crew hostage on Friday, the French military and the ship’s owner said.

The 32-cabin, four-deck yacht, the Ponant, “was the victim of an act of piracy early this afternoon as it was sailing between Somalia and Yemen,” armed forces spokesman Christophe Prazuck said.

The three-masted yacht had no passengers on board at the time, Prazuck added. “As far as we know, no shots have been fired,” he said.

French military forces in the area and a Djibouti-based United States-led multinational force, Combined Task Force 150, “were able to confirm the situation and are following its evolution,” he added.

France has a patrol aircraft based in Djibouti, as well as a dispatch boat.

French shipping group CMA-CGM confirmed one of its boats had been seized in the Gulf of Aden, on its way from the Indian Ocean’s Seychelles islands to the Mediterranean, and that a “majority” of the crew were French.

“The ship is indeed the Ponant, property of the CMA-CGM group. We were informed that there were pirates on board,” a company spokesman said.

In a statement, the group said it was “working closely with the foreign ministry. The French authorities are handling the situation.”

It said it did not want to give further information “to avoid endangering its crew taken hostage.”

Prime Minister Francois Fillon’s office said the government had launched a piracy alert plan, mobilising all available resources in the sector and making contact with its regional allies.

A French helicopter flew over the ship, while the foreign ministry also said it had made contact with the ship’s owner and was trying to reach the crew’s relatives.

Fillon said he and cross-departmental ministers were hoping for a successful outcome “as soon as possible,” stressing that Paris was in possession of “relatively major military resources within this zone”.

Pirate attacks are frequent off Somalia’s 3,700-kilometre (2,300-mile) coastline, prompting the International Maritime Bureau to advise sailors not to come closer than 200 nautical miles to its shore.

Somalia lies at the mouth of the Red Sea on a major trade route between Asia and Europe via the Suez Canal.

It has not had a functional government since the 1991 ousting of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

The French navy was called on in recent months to escort World Food Programme boats through Somali waters, after two of the agency’s boats were stolen.

And in November 2005, some 600 sea-borne European tourists narrowly avoided being boarded in nearby waters.

“You’re looking at a powerful maritime mafia,” said Olivier Hallaoui, of French security specialists Secopex.

“Most are fishermen-turned-bandits, with links to clans, local militias who realise this is a lucrative business because in almost every case ransoms are paid.

“They are equipped with GPS satellite and modern communications systems as well as heavy arms. Above all, they open fire without warning,” he added.

The 850-tonne Ponant, equipped with lounges, bar and restaurant, had been due to host a cruise between Alexandria in Egypt and Valletta in Malta on April 21-22, its owner said.

The ship is one of three owned by the Marseille-based cruise operator Compagnie des Iles du Ponant, which presents itself as France’s leading cruise provider.

MV Van Gogh eventually leaves Funchal

Web Cam 19.00 GMT April 3rd 2008

MV Van Gogh casts off  heading back to Falmouth

MV Van Gogh still in Funchal !

Pictures from Port Cam Funchal 0945 GMT April 3rd 2008

MV Van Gogh runs into trouble in Madeira

The ship was due to return to the UK on Saturday

Efforts are under way to secure the release of a UK cruise ship that has been detained by police in Madeira.

The Van Gogh, which has about 460 passengers on board, was held on Tuesday shortly after it came into Funchal port in the Portuguese isles.

It is understood the ship has been held in connection with an alleged debt relating to the previous operator which went into administration.

Van Gogh Cruise Line Ltd said its lawyers were liaising with authorities.

The ship is on the final stage of a round-the-world cruise and had been due back in Falmouth on Saturday.

It set off on 4 January from Falmouth, after operator Travelscope went into administration.

Passenger petition

A spokesman for Van Gogh Cruise Line Ltd, which is based in Cheltenham and a subsidiary of the Dutch-owned Club Cruise, said they were working with their lawyers to get the ship released as quickly as possible.

Passengers have been told there will be another announcement on Thursday on the ship to inform them of the latest situation.

In a statement, the cruise operator said: “Currently Club Cruise’s lawyers are liaising with the authorities in an effort to prevent further delay by allowing this matter to be handled on return to Falmouth, to minimise further distress to our passengers.

“However, the administrators have so far refused to allow this.

“The passengers have been kept informed on board. They are currently preparing a petition to be sent to ABTA to urgently request they arrange immediate repatriation back to Falmouth on the Van Gogh.”

Gladys Hobson, 64, is on board the ship with her husband, Wallace.

She said the cruise director used a public address system to inform passengers that the ship was being held. Passengers are free to leave the ship.

“We were all shocked. Our first reaction was that it was an April Fools’ joke. Then we realised it was serious,” she said.

Mrs Hobson, from Tyneside, said many of the passengers were elderly and many relied on supplies of medication and were concerned they could run out if the dispute continued for days.

“The passengers of this ship should not be made to suffer due to a dispute. They shouldn’t be involving passengers,” said Mrs Hobson.

However, she added: “We’re in a beautiful place. You couldn’t be in a better place to be held ransom.”

‘Dunkirk spirit’

This positive outlook was shared by another passenger, who did not want to be identified, who described the atmosphere on the ship as being akin to the “Dunkirk spirit”.

The passenger added: “Everybody’s very happy with the situation and they’re relying upon the ship to resolve the problem. One or two passengers would like to leave as soon as possible.

“Some people have to be at work on Monday. Not everybody on board the ship’s retired, so they want to get away from here and get back to work and at the moment they have no real indication of when we will leave and that’s the problem.”

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) said they were aware of the situation with the cruise ship and were monitoring it.

However, she added that Van Gogh Cruise Lines Ltd were not bonded to Abta.

The Madeira Islands are an autonomous region of Portugal.

Sky Wonder 09:40 GMT 29/03/08 (Kusadasi Web Cam)

Sky Wonder has been re floated !

It is now anchored just to the right of this shot, I presume awaiting inspection or repair prior to

departure.

Sky Wonder cruisers arrive home

by Think Spain

Around 1,300 mainly Spanish and Portuguese tourists are back home after their cruise from Istanbul to Athens had to be aborted after the ship got irrevocably grounded in Kusadasi port last Tuesday.

It seems that the captain of the ‘Sky Wonder’ made a mistake as he was manoeuvring the elderly vessel towards the dock, and given that the ship’s reverse gear was not working and that the Turkish port’s tug boats were out of action, could do nothing to prevent her from slowly drifting on to a sand bank where she became stuck.

The passengers only agreed to abandon ship after receiving guarantees from the Pullmantour company that organised the cruise.

According to one of the passengers, Marta (26, from Madrid), “at the start they only offered us a 50% discount on our next cruise.”

A protest meeting was organised and the passengers - already fuming about not being kept informed about the situation - opened negotiations, eventually agreeing to accept not only a full refund (around €900 euros), but also the promised 50% discount.