A ship carrying UN aid to tsunami victims in Somalia has finally reached port after being freed by pirates who held it for nearly 100 days at sea.
Captured by gunmen in speedboats on June 27th in waters off Somalia, the MV Semlowwas towed last night into El Maan port with the 10-man crew exhausted but safe.
The pirates left the World Food Programme (WFP)-chartered vessel yesterday afternoon; the ship has a cargo of 850 tonnes of rice donated by Japan and Germany for victims of last year's tsunami that struck northern Somalia.
It was brought into El Maan by another ship carrying cement from Egypt that the pirates also took control of in recent days. That ship was also released by the pirates at the weekend.
"The ship is apparently refuelling . . . then it will unload and we will decide what to do with the food," a WFP spokesman said. He said it was believed most of the rice was intact, although some might have been carried to shore earlier in the standoff.
The seizure of the MV Semlowhas been the most high profile of a recent spree of hijackings off Somalia, which has been run by warlords since the 1991 ousting of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.