Pirates Attack Humanitarian Relief Vessel

Pirates off the coast of Somalia have hijacked a cargo ship conducting a humanitarian mission for the United Nations. The United States is reported to have dispatched a war ship to protect other humanitarian vessels after this latest pirate attack.

Sea pirates hijacked the freighter, MV Rozen, Sunday morning. Reports state that the vessel was boarded off the coast of North-Eastern Somalia, by an organized gang of pirates brandishing AK-47s. The attack has caused many to fear a resurgence of the piracy that was once widespread and rampant in the area.

According to a spokesperson for the UN World Food Program, the vessel had just completed delivery of 1,800 tons of food aid to the towns of Bosasso and Berbera. Having unloaded the cargo, the ship was on it's return voyage to vessel's home port in Mombasa, Kenya.

"It was hijacked this morning at about 9.30am near the town of Bargal," said Stephanie Savariaud, a spokesperson for the United Nations.

The attack followed warnings from Kenya that there could possibly be a resurgence of piracy off the Horn of Africa.

Andrew Mwangura, a representative of the International Seafarers Assistance Program, said, "As it was heading home, the heavily-armed pirates emerged from a motorboat, they jumped in the ship and seized it."

The identity of the pirates is not known at this time. In the past, similar attacks have been carried out by a well-organized cartel of Somalis. The pirates typically use speed boats mounted with machine guns to catch up to the slower moving ocean liners, and then board the vessel with automatic weapons.

Somali pirates are once again becoming a well-known problem along the shipping corridors of Eastern Africa. By some accounts, their attacks even rival those of the armed gangs who plague the Malacca Straight in the South China Sea.

The Kenyan company that operates the MV Rozen, Motaku Shipping, has had a particularly difficult time with the pirates. Following this recent attack on the Rozen, the company said that all four vessels under it's command have suffered from piracy in the last two years.