Spain holds its breath over Somali piracy drama - Feature

Madrid (Earth Times - dpa) - Spain is anxiously following a high-tension piracy drama off the coast of a faraway African country where Somali pirates are gradually stepping up pressure on the government in Madrid. Will a group of young pirates - nervous, drug-using, and armed to the teeth - kill the terrified fishermen who for more than 40 days have been held hostage on board a Spanish fishing vessel?

The only way to save the lives of the hostages could be to compromise on some key legal principles and send back to Somalia two of the suspected pirates who were brought to face trial in Spain.

The Basque trawler Alakrana is only one among around a dozen vessels currently held by Somali pirates, but its fate is the biggest such drama to hit Spain so far.

The owner of the vessel and the Spanish government are having to deal with a tough negotiating partner in a lawless country where forces unknown to them come into play.

The drama started on October 2, when the Alakrana was seized by a group of pirates in the Indian Ocean and taken to near the Somali coast.

A day later, a Spanish frigate participating in international anti-piracy patrols captured two of the pirates after they left the vessel on board a skiff.

On October 12, the suspects were flown to Spain to face interrogation and trial - a move which many now regard as a mistake that is prolonging the suffering of the fishermen.

At least 33 Spanish, African and Asian fishermen are still on board the Alakrana. Three others were taken to Somalia, and it is not clear whether they have been brought back on board.

The pirates are threatening to start killing the fishermen in groups of three unless Spain hands over their two detained companions.

The fate of the two, who are known as Abdou Willy and Raagegeesey, has become a key obstacle to a negotiated solution after the owner of the Alakrana reportedly agreed to pay a ransom of several million dollars.

Some of the 16 Spanish fishermen on board the vessel told family members that the pirates were nervous and aggressive, constantly chewing the local drug khat, kicking their hostages, spitting into their faces and depriving them of sleep by firing into the air.

The pirates play skilfully on the anguish of the fishermen, whom they allow to call their families, knowing that what they say will be front page news in Spain and will step up the pressure on the government whose efforts to resolve the situation have failed so far.

"Every phone call ends with a farewell, because they think they may not talk to us again," said Ane Galbarriatu, sister of the one of the hostages.

After a meeting with Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, however, the families said Wednesday they would no longer talk to the press while the government intensified efforts to obtain the release of the fishermen.

Abdou Willy and Raagegeesey had to be brought back to Somalia, or clashes would erupt between their clans and those of the pirate chiefs, pirate representative Hussein Badmax told the daily El Mundo.

Piracy has become a big business in violence-torn Somalia, which has had no firm central government since the overthrow of dictator Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991, and which is bogged down in an Islamist insurgency.

The pirates accuse foreign fishing companies of depleting the local fish stocks, a claim that has been backed by some environmentalists.

Judges at Madrid's National Court initially said there was no question of ceding to blackmail by the pirates, but experts are now looking for legal loopholes that would allow Spain to release Abdou Willy and Raagegeesey.

The government would reportedly like the two to face trial in Somalia, but Spain does not even have diplomatic relations, let alone an extradition treaty, with the Horn of Africa country.

Abdou Willy's lawyer is proposing that Spain simply expel the two Somalis, after determining that their potential prison sentences would be low enough to allow for such a procedure.

While that idea is under consideration, Spanish fishing vessels navigating in the Indian Ocean have begun hiring private guards whom the government has allowed to carry weapons.