How were hostages rescued from Somali pirates?

Leslie Edwards, who negotiated the rescue of 26 Asian sailors from Somali pirates, knows the tricks pirates use to demand high ransoms.

Somali pirates on October 22 released 26 Asian sailors, including three Vietnamese, who had been held captive in the Indian Ocean for four and a half years. To free the hostages, negotiators worked with Somali clan elders to convince the pirates to accept a relatively small sum of money as payment for holding the captives for 1,672 days, according to the NYTimes.

Negotiators did not disclose the amount, although they said it was “nothing” compared to what the pirates had originally demanded. A British law firm helped raise the funds, and the rescue mission was coordinated by Ocean Beyond Piracy, a project of an American nonprofit.

Somali pirates stand in front of a ship they hijacked in 2012. Photo: AP

Meanwhile, Bile Hussein, a representative of the pirates, said the ransom was $1.5 million, but the figure could not be confirmed. Taiwan's foreign ministry said that in addition to the international fund, the owner of the Naham 3, a Taiwanese company, also paid part of the ransom, according to Focus Taiwan.

The NYTimes reported that the lead negotiator with the pirates was Leslie Edwards. He has more than 20 years of experience as a professional hostage negotiator. He has dealt with kidnappers all over the world, helping to rescue aid workers in Iraq, journalists in Afghanistan, oil company owners in Nigeria and the children of wealthy businessmen in Latin America.

In a 2013 interview with the Telegraph, Leslie Edwards said he knew the tricks and tactics pirates used to scare ship owners into demanding high ransoms.

“The most basic tactic is to say that the hostages are starving or that there is no water on board,” Edwards said. “Sometimes they will say that the crew is dying of disease or that the ship is being attacked by another group of pirates. These are all tactics to increase the pressure.”

Kidnapping gangs' tactics vary widely. What works against a Venezuelan robber might backfire against an Iraqi rebel or a Somali pirate.

“Many Somali pirates are very clever and aggressive negotiators, and will quickly take advantage if they get a hold of you,” said Edwards. “You have to be tough, but at the same time you have to show that you understand the negotiation process.”

Leslie Edwards (in striped shirt) is a hostage negotiator. Photo: Telegraph

Hard

Despite the presence of a multinational anti-piracy fleet in the waters off Somalia, ransom is still how most ship hijackings are resolved.

Mr. Edwards recalled his first negotiation with Somali pirates in 2008. A ransom of $1 million was agreed after just two weeks of negotiations—a relatively small sum and a quick process compared to recent hijackings. However, he encountered many difficulties in transferring the money.

"Nowadays, ransoms are usually delivered by flying over ships and dropping money by parachute, but back then no pilot was willing to risk it," Edwards said. "We ended up sending a tugboat, which took 14 days to reach the rendezvous point. Because the ship had engine trouble en route, we told the pirates that we might not make it in time. They thought we were lying and threatened to kill the crew if we didn't make it on time."

Mr Edwards had been anxiously watching the tugboat's progress on a satellite monitor in the Netherlands, where the company that owned the ship was based. As he feared the ship would not arrive on time, he felt severe chest pain. "I rang the doctor and asked if I was having a heart attack. He said, 'No, you're just stressed,'" Edwards said.

Fortunately, the final exchange went smoothly and subsequent negotiations went more smoothly as he gained more experience.

Mr Edwards said Somali pirates were generally less ruthless than the kidnapping gangs in Iraq. “In Somalia, of the 150 or so ships hijacked, there were only a few cases of serious abuse and torture, usually only when something went wrong.”

But he stressed that he did not condone what pirates did. In one case, a hostage could not bear the life of captivity and took his own life. "The crew put his body in the ship's refrigerator," Mr Edwards said. "We didn't find out until the ship was released."

The question is whether ransoms should be paid, and whether doing so would encourage more ship hijackings?

"I think that's the wrong question," said Mr. Edwards. "The question is how to prevent pirates from hijacking ships. Once a ship has been hijacked, it's very difficult to free it without damage... All I do is try to make that process as quick and inexpensive as possible."

A common pirate tactic is to threaten to run the ship aground. One pirate negotiator even said he would be killed by his own crew if he did not get a higher ransom. Other bluffs are easier to handle.

"Once a group of pirates hijacked a cargo ship and told us that the crew was starving. We immediately exposed the lie by pointing out that there were 20,000 tons of rice on board."

According to VNE