RI steps up Somali talks to free hostages

Indonesia says it will ask the Somali government to help free 20 Indonesian sailors, while pirates and the hijacked ship owner continue to negotiate for their release.

The President’s spokesperson for international affairs, Teuku Faizasyah, said Indonesia had to approach the Somali government as a matter of diplomatic etiquette, whether the Somali government was effective or not.

“The government has no direct contact with the pirates. It has been done by the ship owner. The government only monitors [negotiations] as input to decide a final option to free Indonesian sailors,” Teuku told The Jakarta Post.

Teuku said one possible option allowed by the United Nations was a military rescue.

“[Military responses] have been legitimized by the UN but we need to be cautious on that option. Somalia is in a civil war. The area where sailors are held hostage is not under the control by the central government of Somalia,” he said.

Somali Ambassador to Indonesia Muhamod Olow Barow said that the best way to rescue the Indonesians was through negotiations, adding that the Somali government was ready to help.

Barow said Somalia would support whatever course of action Indonesia decided upon, including a military response.

However, 99 percent of hostages taken by Somali pirates survived and were eventually released,
Barow said.

“The pirates are an international mafia. The money from ransoms is also given to other groups outside Somalia who provide them with radios and navigation equipment to find the ships,” he said as quoted by Antara.

The 20 sailors aboard the MV Sinar Kudus cargo ship, owned by PT Samudra Indonesia, were taken hostage in March by Somali pirates, who are demanding a US$3 million ransom.

Somali pirates have hijacked 41 ships from 16 countries since March 2010, taking 583 sailors hostage, including 20 Indonesians.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Su-yanto said that the last communication between the pirates and the owner of the Sinar Kudus was on Tuesday.

“The owner of ship coordinates with us. We will finalize the mechanism [to free the Indonesians],” he told reporters at the Vice Presidential Office on Wednesday.

President Susilo Bambang Yu-dhoyono, in his first statement on the situation, declined to discuss potential options on Tuesday.

Indonesian Institute of Sciences’ security expert Jaleswari Pramodhawardani said it would be difficult for the government to choose between a diplomatic or military track.

“This is not an easy situation. Reportedly, [the pirates] are about to or maybe even have reached the beach. This will even be more difficult for us,” she told the Post.

Jaleswari said she could not imagine what kind of diplomacy the government was mulling as Somalia did not have an effective government.

The University of Indonesia international law expert Hikmahanto Juwana said that the government had no ideal option. “What is important right now is for us to give the government time to do its best and really do it,” he said.

Whatever its decision, the government must avoid fatalities, he said.

“Once the government has paid the ransom to the pirates, more pirates in the future will ask for more ransoms,” he said.