Piracy watchdog warns of RI militant hijackings
Piracy watchdog warns of RI militant hijackings
Reuters, London
Piracy watchdog the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has
warned shipping to be on guard against an upsurge of hostage-
taking in Asia, most notably by separatist guerrillas in
Indonesia's Aceh province.
"In the first nine months of this year there were 15
kidnappings world-wide, all except two of them in Asia," the
IMB's Captain Mukundan told Reuters on Thursday. He said this
compared to just eight in the whole of last year.
He said he was particularly concerned by two kidnappings by
the Free Aceh Movement, or Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM), which last
month threatened to target ships in one of the world's busiest
shipping lanes.
"There were two cases of hostage-taking in Aceh and we're
taking this very seriously," he added.
"After the kidnappings GAM demanded that all ships passing
through the Malacca Strait to report their position and
destination, almost as if they considered themselves a sovereign
power," he added.
"They said that ships that did not comply could not be
guaranteed safe passage."
Pirates have flourished in Indonesia in recent years, using
Kalashnikovs and speed-boats to plunder the world's shipping
lanes, as commodities -- from sugar to diesel -- are shipped
around the world.
Often cargoes are targeted and hijacked to order. The vessel
is seized, repainted, renamed and given new licenses and a crew.
Selling on the cargo is then easy. The emergence of hostage-
taking is an alarming new trend.
In August, GAM forces hijacked the Honduras-flagged tug Ocean
Silver using guns and grenade launchers.
They immediately released six crew, but held six others
hostage at a port in Aceh. According to shipping sources, the six
hostages were not freed until a ransom had been paid.
Mukundan said that piracy had been markedly more violent
throughout the world this year. Guns were used in nearly a fifth
of the 253 attacks in the first nine months of this year, up from
11 percent in attacks last year.
In June, GAM rebels stormed the tanker Tirta Niaga close to
the Aceh coastline while the crew was repairing the seized
engine. They took the captain hostage for a month, demanding a
ransom of Rp 1 billion, which was eventually negotiated down,
sources said.
Captain Mukundan warned shipping against anchoring or stopping
on the Indonesian side of the Malacca Strait and said captains
should never answer GAM's demands for information.
"You don't know where that information is going," he said.
GAM and the Indonesian military frequently blame one another
for the bloodshed in the staunchly Muslim province on the
northern tip of Sumatra island, wracked by a decades-long
separatist war.
More than 1,500 people, mostly civilians, have died since
January alone in an upsurge of violence in the province of four
million people.