Somalia: Negotiations to release Danish hostages in Somalia nearly to fail, sources say

Bosasso port town, of Bari region (photo by RBC Radio)

Bosasso (RBC) Sources close to the elders of the Somali pirates holding the Danish hostages from the sailing yacht SY ING reported today that the present negotiations between a Danish delegation in Bosasso and the hostage takers are bound to fail, the ECOTERRA International group says.
A Danish negotiation team in Bosasso port town are now holding contacts with the pirates and dealing with them for the release of the hostages.
According to three separate sources the fact that the Danish delegation operates from Bosasso in close co-operation with the Puntland government, while the armed forces of that administration had already once attacked the gang unsuccessfully and despite the botched attempt and international as well as local warnings again threatened to attack the hostage takers and their supporters with armed forces, makes it impossible for the hostage takers to trust the Danish negotiation team.
Danish Foreign Ministry also spoke to some hostages, but could so far not achieve their release.
RBC Radio learns that the pirates holding the Danish family demanded huge amount of ransom for their release which the negotiators said much more than as expected.
Puntland officials said that they are dealing with the condition after several tradition elders from Bari region were sent to the area as part of the negotiation.
The Danish family consisting of Jan Quist Johansen, his wife, their three children, and two other adults were taken hostage on 24 February. An attempt to rescue them which launched by forces from the Somalia’s semi-autonomous region of Puntland failed two weeks ago.
The pirates also warned that the Danish family will be killed if any other attack tried.
The hostages who are reportedly to be safe are kept in small village named ‘Hul-Anod’ which locates near Bandar-beyla district of the east coast of the Indian Ocean in the Somalia’s Bari region.
©RBC Radio