Pirates kill sailor, kidnap 15 off Nigeria on Turkish ship

The ship was sailing through the most dangerous sea in the world for piracy when it was attacked

Armed men killed an Azerbaijani sailor and abducted 15 Turkish crew members from a Turkish cargo ship off the coast of Nigeria, Turkey’s Anadolu news agency reported Sunday.

That left three crew members to sail the Liberian-flagged Mozart owned by a Turkish company, the state agency said. 

Turkish news channel NTV spoke to a sailor still on board who said several crew members were wounded.

The Mozart had been en route from the Nigeria’s economic capital Lagos to Cape Town in South Africa when it was boarded on Saturday. It has now arrived at Port-Gentil in nearby Gabon.

“We have established the necessary contacts with all the countries concerned for the release of our nationals,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on NTV.

“The bandits, the pirates who abducted our citizens have not contacted us yet. These pirates make contact at some point to communicate their demands,” he added.

Earlier, a voice from the Mozart — purportedly that of the new captain — had said on a recording posted on Twitter: “I do not know where I am heading. The pirates cut the cables, only the radar is working.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by telephone to the new captain and was following events closely, his office said.

Ten sailors who were taken hostage from a Turkish vessel off West Africa were released in August 2019.

Pirate attacks on ships worldwide jumped 20 percent last year driven by a record spate of kidnappings off West Africa, the International Maritime Bureau said last week.

A total of 195 incidents of piracy and armed robbery were reported, up from 162 in 2019.

Out of 135 sailors abducted globally last year, 130 were recorded in the Gulf of Guinea — the highest ever number of crew members kidnapped in the area stretching thousands of kilometres (miles) from Senegal to Angola.

 

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RWANDA: Hotel Rwanda 'hero' sues Greek airline for 'aiding kidnap'

Paul Rusesabagina is now in detention facing terrorism charges in Rwanda

 

The man portrayed as a hero in a Hollywood movie about the Rwandan genocide, Hotel Rwanda, says he is suing a Greek charter flight company for aiding his alleged kidnap.

Paul Rusesabagina says that in August he intended to visit Burundi but after he boarded a private flight in Dubai he was instead flown to Rwanda.

He was arrested for leading "terrorist movements", Rwandan officials said at the time.

His lawyers denied the charges.

An ethnic Hutu, Mr Rusesabagina became well known after the 2004 film Hotel Rwanda depicted his efforts a decade earlier during the genocide to save hundreds of Tutsis at a hotel where he was a manager.

He is a fierce critic of President Paul Kagame and is the leader of the opposition MRCD group.

It is said to have an armed wing, the National Liberation Front (FLN), which stages attacks on Rwanda.

He had been living in exile and has Belgian citizenship and a US green card.

But he says he was tricked by a pastor into taking a trip to Burundi for speaking engagements.

Rwanda has charged him with terrorism, financing terrorism, recruiting child soldiers, kidnapping, arson, and forming terror groups.

In September, a Rwandan court heard allegations that the FLN had received help from Zambia's President Edgar Lungu because of his close friendship with Mr Rusesabagina.

His lawyers denied the charges against him and Mr Lungu's spokesman denied the allegation in a BBC interview.

Mr Rusesabagina is currently in prison in Rwanda awaiting trial.

'Bound and gagged'

He has filed a lawsuit in Texas, where he has been living, against the charter company GainJet, alleging the company agreed to facilitate the plane journey because of its close relationship with officials in Rwanda.

"Paul was bound and gagged before the plane landed in Rwanda," said his lawyer Robert Hilliard.

"The pilots have an international responsibility to every single one of the people on the plane. They cannot be complicit with kidnappers and say go ahead and tie him up, go ahead and drug him, go ahead and bind him, go ahead and bind his feet and his hands and we'll get you to Rwanda where you can then pretend he's going to get a fair trial," he added.

A similar case is expected be lodged in Belgium where Mr Rusesabagina holds citizenship, reports the BBC's Africa correspondent Catherine Byaruhanga.

GainJet has not responded to the BBC's requests for comment.

Rwanda's Justice Minister Johnston Busingye has denied that Mr Rusesabagina was kidnapped and insisted he will get a fair trial on 26 January.

What is Hotel Rwanda about?

 

Don Cheadle (L) played Mr Rusesabagina (R) in the film

The 2004 film Hotel Rwanda told the story of how Mr Rusesabagina, a middle-class Hutu married to a Tutsi woman, used his influence - and bribes - to convince military officials to secure a safe escape for an estimated 1,200 people who sought shelter at the Mille Collines Hotel in Kigali.

Don Cheadle played Mr Rusesabagina in the film.

Rwandan genocide survivors' group Ibuka has in the past said that he exaggerated his own role in helping hotel refugees escape the 100-day slaughter.

SOURCE: BBC 

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