As Saudi Aramco awaited word from the hijackers on its supertanker Sirius Star, Wednesday, the White House said the US would try to get the ship and its 25 crewmembers back to safety. An Aramco spokesman said the company hoped to hear from the hijackers later on Wednesday. One Somali website said the pirates were demanding a ransom of $250 million. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said: “I know that the owners of the tanker, they're negotiating on the issue.” “We do not like to negotiate with either terrorists or hijackers,” he said, speaking in Rome after talks with his Italian counterpart, Franco Frattini. But, Prince Saud added, “the owners of the tanker are the final arbiters of what happens there.” US President George W. Bush has been briefed about increasing attacks by Somali pirates off east Africa, and the United States is consulting with other UN Security Council members on ways to combat the threat, the White House said. “The goal would be to try to help get this ship (the Saudi supertanker) to safety, secure the crew and then work with our international partners to try to alleviate the piracy problem, full stop,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. Meanwhile, the Indian navy said it sank a large “mother ship” of the pirates who had fired on the INS Tabar, and chased one of two pirate speedboats, Wednesday. Separate bands of pirates seized a Thai ship with 16 crew members and an Iranian cargo vessel with a crew of 25 in the Gulf of Aden. The Sirius Star, carrying 25 crew and as much as 2 million barrels of oil, was seized 450 nautical miles southeast of Mombasa in the weekend. On Wednesday, it was believed to be anchored near Eyl, a well-defended pirate base. “Eyl residents told me they could see the lights of a big ship far out at sea that seems to be the tanker,” Aweys Ali, chairman of Somalia's Galkayo region, said. Local officials said it had been sighted further south on Tuesday near Harardhere. Somalia's Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein said naval patrols would not stop piracy and appealed for more help to tackle criminal networks with links beyond his country. The hardline Islamist alliance controlling Somalia's main southern port of Kismayo, promised tough measures to protect ships and traders from marauding pirates. “We will set up marine forces and will protect all ships and vessels from the pirates off the coastal areas we control,” Sheikh Hasan Yaqub, spokesman for the Islamist administration in Kismayo said. “We will never allow those gangs to cause havoc in our waters anymore and we will protect all vessels,” he said. Yemeni Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Al-Ayashi said ahead of meeting by Arab officials from Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan and the Arab League in Cairo, Thursday, that Arab countries on the Red Sea should increase their cooperation to combat piracy in the Horn of Africa.
