Pirates to kill crew on arms ship if NATO ships attack

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Food and water are running low on the Ukrainian arms ship hijacked by Somali pirates, and a pirate spokesman warned Thursday if the ship was attacked by NATO forces its 20-man crew would be among those killed.

Armed Somali pirates, at top and in red boat, guard the captives on the hijacked Ukrainian arms ship MV Faina.

Spokesman Sugule Ali also mocked comments by Tomex Team, the firm operating the MV Faina cargo ship, which said it has accumulated only $1 million toward the $20 million ransom the pirates initially demanded.

“That is worthless,” he said. “It would only pay for several nights’ stay in a hotel!”

However, Ali declined to say whether the pirates had lowered their ransom request.

He told the Associated Press that supplies were running out but the pirates would share what remained with the crew.

“We Somalis don’t eat in front of a hungry person,” he said, speaking Thursday by satellite phone. “We will share our food with them.”

But he repeated his promise to fight back if attacked, regardless of the arrival of a flotilla of NATO warships.

“Either we get the money or hold onto the ship. And if attacked, we will fight back to the bitter end,” Ali said.

“The important thing, though, is if we die they will die too,” he added, referring to the Faina’s crew.

The Faina was heading for a Kenyan port with a cargo of 33 battle tanks and heavy weapons when armed pirates seized it September 25 off coast of Somalia. The ship is now anchored off Somalia’s coast near the central town of Hobyo, where Ali was seeking medical treatment Thursday.

U.S. warships have surrounded the Faina for weeks, making sure its heavy weapons don’t fall into the hands of any insurgent groups linked to al Qaeda.

Pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia this year have surged 75 percent, the International Maritime Bureau said Thursday, calling for serious international action against the brigands who “operate with impunity.”

It says the waters off Somalia, including the Gulf of Aden, are the world’s most dangerous, accounting for 63 — or nearly a third — of the 199 reported pirate attacks worldwide between January and September 2008.

The agency urged navies around the world to target the pirate’s main supply ships before they succeed in hijacking cargo vessels.

“The locations and descriptions of these mother ships are known. We therefore call upon all governments to direct their navies to disrupt the activities of the pirates and their mother ships. This is vital to protect this major world seaway,” bureau director Pottengal Mukundan said in a statement.

The lawless Horn of Africa nation has had no central government since a group of clan-based warlords overthrew a socialist dictator in 1991.

Libya gives U.S. money for terror victims

WASHINGTON (CNN — The United States has received “a substantial amount of money” from Libya to settle claims by American victims of terrorism, a senior U.S. official announced Thursday.

We believe that (the) direct deposit of these funds is evidence of Libya’s commitment to fully implementing the claims settlement agreement,” the official said.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s government has made a partial payment to the United States for terror victims.

Kara Weipz, president of Families of Pan Am 103, had a mixed reaction to the news, calling it “a positive step, but a small step.

“I’m a little bit cynical,” said Weipz, whose brother died when Pan Am Flight 103 was blown out of the sky over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988. “It’s a positive step, but what are we going to have to do to see the next step and how many more months will that take?”

Weipz, who spoke to CNN from her New Jersey home, said she has not been contacted by the State Department about the development.

Last month, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States was still waiting for the promised payment following Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s meeting with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

Washington has promised to normalize relations with Libya to reward it for abandoning its weapons of mass destruction program and for taking responsibility for the downing of Pan Am 103 and other terror attacks against Americans.

Part of the complicated agreement between the two nations called for the creation of a special fund set up by the State Department to finalize the terrorism claims. The partial payment announced on Thursday is a step toward full compensation sought by the families of the terrorist victims.

Rice’s visit to Libya in September was the first by an American secretary of state since 1953, and both countries hailed it as a breakthrough. It followed months of complicated negotiations between the two countries.

However, some relatives of victims of the Pan Am explosion, which killed all 259 people on board the plane and 11 more on the ground, have criticized Rice for going to Tripoli, especially before the Libyans paid the final installments of the settlement.

“It’s absolutely absurd they sent high-ranking officials before this was settled,” Weipz said.

U.S. companies hope the new relationship will reap billions in new investment in Libya — a country rich in petroleum reserves but lacking a developed infrastructure. But both sides were blocked from doing business until Libya agreed to pay in full the terrorism claims to U.S. victims.

The U.S. official would not say how much money Libya had deposited in the special fund set up for the victims’ families, but he said it “demonstrates Libya’s commitment to fully resolving outstanding claims.”

“We will continue to work with Libya to ensure the expeditious receipt of the remaining agreed funds to compensate the victims and families,” the official said.

Families of victims of Pan Am 103 had received part but not all of the $10 million per person compensation promised by Libya.

Following the full payment, Rice must certify to Congress that the necessary funds have been received to cover outstanding settlements and wrongful death and physical injury claims.

Then, as part of the carefully orchestrated step-by-step process, the U.S. government will restore Libya’s immunity to court cases — a key point sought by Libya to allow U.S. companies to invest in Libya without fear of future lawsuits from terrorism victims.