Somali Pirates Seize Ukraine Ship

NAIROBI, Kenya — Somalia’s notorious pirates have staged perhaps their most brazen attack yet, seizing a Ukrainian ship full of arms, including dozens of battle tanks, and American naval ships were on Friday in hot pursuit to intercept it, maritime and diplomatic officials said.

The ship was seized Thursday evening about 200 miles off the coast of Somalia. However, unloading the tanks is likely to be beyond the capacity of the pirates, experts said.

According to Andrew Mwangura, the program coordinator of the Seafarers’ Assistance Program in Kenya, the ship was carrying around 30 T-72 battle tanks, which were going to be offloaded in Mombasa, Kenya.

“These pirates are getting bolder ever day,” said Mr. Mwangura, whose organization tracks pirate attacks. “They are now going to use these weapons as a bargaining chip.”

Alfred Mutua, a spokesman for the Kenyan government, said the tanks and other arms were for the Kenyan military, which has become a key western ally in the war against terrorism.

“We’re concerned,” Dr. Mutua said. “This is a big loss for us.”

But, he added, “at least we have insurance.”

Kenyan and Western officials said that an American warship was steaming toward the hijacked ship to intercept it, and the Russian Navy announced on Friday that it too was sending a warship, named the “Dauntless,” to the region. Lt. Commander. Bill Speaks, a spokesman for the United States military, said on Friday afternoon, “We are aware of the situation and actively tracking it.”

Somalia’s 1,880-mile coastline is infested with pirates, who strike with seeming impunity and then demand millions of dollars in ransom for the ships and their crews. This year is one of the worst on record, with more than 50 ships attacked, 25 hijacked and 14 currently being held by pirates.

The pirates are often former fishermen who have turned to the more lucrative work of plying the seas with binoculars and rocket-propelled grenades. They travel in light speedboats, deployed from a mother ship far out at sea. They have attacked everything from sailing yachts to oil tankers, sometimes as far out as 300 miles from shore. Pirates even tried to attack an American naval supply ship earlier this week. The navy ship fired warning shots and the pirates fled.

Somali officials say the pirates are growing in numbers, with more than 1,000 gunmen at their disposal, and they have evolved into a sophisticated organized crime ring with their headquarters along the rocky shores of northern Somalia. There is even a pirate spokesman (who could not be reached on Friday).

One Somali official who asked not to be identified described the pirates as an oceangoing “mafia” and said they had netted millions of dollars which they use to buy fancy cars and big houses.

“Paying the ransoms is just making this worse,” the Somali official said.

European countries and the United States have tried to crack down on the problem, with different navies patrolling the waters and escorting United Nations-chartered ships bringing food to Somalia.

An official in the Ukrainian Embassy in Nairobi said Ukraine was closely watching the situation but had scant information about the hijacked ship. According to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry’s website, there were 21 people aboard, including 17 Ukrainians, three Russians and a Latvian. The site did not describe the cargo.

An official at the Mombasa port said the ship, called the Faina and registered in Belize, was due to dock at 6 a.m. on Monday, and that it was carrying 2,320 tons of “project cargo,” which is usually used to describe heavy machinery.

According to the Russia Interfax news agency, a Ukrainian state arms exporter shipped 33 tanks, a significant amount of ammunition and grenade launchers to Kenya, all in line with Ukrainian law.

A Western diplomat in Kenya, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters, said the pirates would not have the know-how or the equipment to unload the tanks, which weigh more than 80,000 pounds.

“ If there are tanks on board,” the diplomat said, “I don’t think there’s a chance in hell they can get them unloaded.”

More worrisome, he said, was the prospect that the ship was carrying smaller armaments, machine guns, mortars or light artillery, which could be easily funneled to insurgents battling the government.

In the past week, insurgents linked to Somalia’s ousted Islamist movement have mounted attacks on government forces in the capital, Mogadishu. Dozens of civilians have been killed and thousands are fleeing again.

Somalia has been enmeshed in chaos for 17 years, since the central government collapsed and clan warlords carved the country into fiefdoms. The fighting, however, has intensified since December 2006, when Ethiopian troops invaded the country and overthrew a grassroots Islamist movement that controlled much of Somalia.

Ethiopian and American officials said the Islamists were sheltering Al Qaeda terrorists, and the American military has helped the Ethiopians hunt down Islamist leaders.

The United Nations World Food Program has said that the conflict and recent drought have pushed millions of Somalis to the brink of famine. More than 3 million people, nearly half the population, need emergency food to survive. The constant hijackings by pirates on the high seas have threatened the pipeline of food into the country.

Michael Schwirtz contributed reporting from Moscow, and a Somali journalist contributed from Mogadishu, Somalia..