MADRID (AFP) — Pirates who seized a Spanish fishing trawler and 26 crew off the Somali coast have not yet made any formal demands for their release, Spain's foreign minister said Wednesday.
"There has been no demand on the part of the kidnappers and we don't know what they want. We have to listen first to what they want, what are their demands, so we have to wait," Miguel Angel Moratinos said in Madrid.
The 76-metre-long (250-foot-long) Playa de Bakio with its crew of 13 Spaniards and 13 Africans was seized while fishing for tuna in the waters off Somalia on Sunday by pirates armed with grenade launchers.
The following day a man claiming to be one of the captors held a brief telephone conversation with a journalist from Spain's RNE radio in which he said in broken English that the pirates wanted money.
Moratinos declined to answer questions about the ship's present whereabouts, although Spanish press reports said it had docked off the town of Obbia in northeastern Somalia.
Moratinos said Spain's ambassador to Kenya had held talks on Wednesday in Mogadishu with Somali Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein as well as the country's interior minister and police chiefs.
"He is having all types of contacts to see what is the best way to secure the liberation of our crew," he told a press conference.
Moratinos said he could not confirm the account of the wife of the ship's captain, who told RNE radio on Tuesday -- following a conversation with her husband -- that the pirates had ordered the crew off the boat.
"According to our information, they are all well. The situation is that within the difficulties and drama that is a hijacking, they are calm and well," Moratinos said.
As diplomatic efforts intensified to find a resolution to the hostage crisis, a Spanish warship called the Mendez Nunez was heading for Somalia and was due to arrive later on Wednesday.
Spain's defence ministry said it had also dispatched a reconnaissance plane from Madrid to Djibouti, which neighbours Somalia.
Somali security forces on Tuesday stormed a hijacked Dubai-flagged ship and engaged the pirates in a gun-battle, rescuing the 16 crew members and arresting the captors. The ship, called the al-Khaleej, had been seized on Monday.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Moratinos urged patience and stressed the priority of the Spanish government was the safety of the crew.
"Not putting the life and physical wellbeing of our citizens in danger... that is our maximum objective," he said.
The coastal waters off Somalia, which has not had an effective central government for more than 17 years and is plagued by insecurity, are considered to be among the most dangerous waterways for shipping in the world.
Last year more than 25 ships were seized by pirates in Somali coastal waters despite US navy patrols, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
It advises merchant ships to stay at least 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) from the country's coast.
The seizure of the Spanish trawler came two days after a Paris court charged six Somalis with taking the crew of a French luxury yacht hostage earlier this month.
The six were captured by French special forces, along with 200,000 dollars (125,000 euros) of suspected ransom money, after they released the 30-strong crew of the yacht on April 11. They had held the group hostage for a week.
Spain called on Wednesday for a UN-backed force to combat maritime piracy, notably in the Indian Ocean.
Moratinos said Madrid was in talks with the United States and France on a UN draft resolution authorizing such a force which he called "necessary and urgent."
The resolution would also envisage cooperation between nations to allow the extradition and prosecution of pirates.
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