Pirate Attacks Continue in Africa

Via Yahoo! News -

ABUJA (Reuters) - Pirates attacked a vessel operated by oil major ExxonMobil in the Niger Delta in southern Nigeria on Tuesday, killing a crew member and injuring another, private security contractors working in the oil industry said.

Attacks by politically motivated rebels in the delta, who last year shut down a fifth of Nigerian oil production, have subsided since a new president took office in May but armed robbers and pirates still stage sporadic raids in the creeks.

Details of Tuesday's incident were sketchy, as is often the case with Niger Delta attacks, but three security contractors said about seven or eight gunmen in a speedboat boarded the Seamark vessel on the Bonny river, in Rivers state.

"One crew member was shot dead. They also shot the captain's cabin door and demanded money and in that process they shot and wounded another crew member," said one of the contractors.

"They ransacked the vessel taking away a laptop and some radios. The vessel then continued on its way and is now secure at Onne," he said.

The victims were Nigerians, the sources said.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Via Mail & Guardian (South Africa) -

United States and German navy ships have cornered Somali pirates who seized a Japanese-owned chemical tanker more than a month ago and are demanding a ransom, an official said on Tuesday.

The Panama-registered Golden Nori was carrying benzene from Singapore to Israel when it was hijacked on October 28, just off Somalia, one of the world's most dangerous shipping lanes.

At the time, the US Navy said coalition naval forces had pursued the pirates, opening fire and destroying speedboats the hijacked vessel had in tow."

One German and two American warships have been after Golden Nori for 42 days after it was hijacked. The pirates arrived in Bosasso at about 10pm," Saeed Mohamed Rage, Puntland region's fishing and marine minister, told a news conference in the northern port town of Bosasso.

He said there were 21 crew members on board.

"We are negotiating with their captors. We told them to surrender to Puntland authority," Rage said, adding that the pirates were demanding an undisclosed ransom.

"We are in good communications with the Americans and we are still engaged in dialogue with the hijackers," he said.

US Navy officials were not immediately available for comment.

Deprived of central government since 1991, Somalia has gained a reputation for its rampant piracy, despite calls for international action to patrol its waters.