The French Navy releases video of a luxury yacht seized by pirates off the
Somali coast which the navy is closely tracking.

INTERNATIONAL WATERS OFF SOMALIA COAST (APRIL 5, 2008) (FRENCH NAVY)

The French navy has released night vision video of a luxury yacht
seized by pirates  off the Somali coast.
    The navy is closely tracking the yacht but wants to avoid any use of
force to free the 30 crew, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on
Saturday (April 5).
    Pirates stormed the three-masted yacht, the Ponant, on Friday (April 4)
in the Gulf of Aden and took the crew hostage. There were no passengers aboard
at the time.
    French Defence Minister Herve Morin said 22 of the crew were French
nationals, including six women. Among the rest were Ukrainians and Koreans, he
said.
    Morin said the navy has had no contact with the pirates and does not
know their motive for the hijacking.
    The Defence Ministry said it sent a small warship, the Commandant
Bouan, to shadow the boat, which was seized in open seas and has since been
taken to Somali waters.
    Morin said Somalia had agreed to let the French navy enter its waters
and added that additional frigates were being sent to the scene.
    The Ponant is owned by the Compagnie des Iles du Ponant and was heading
from the Seychelles to the Mediterranean Sea when it was hijacked.
    The International Maritime Bureau lists Somalia and Nigeria as having
the world's most dangerous waters. The piracy watchdog's most recent report,
released in January, said Somalia saw the highest number of hostages taken.

    Kidnapping and piracy are lucrative businesses in lawless Somalia, and
most Somalis treat their captives well in anticipation of a good ransom.
    France has 2,900 troops stationed in Djibouti, which borders Somalia
and lies on the coast. It also has a naval force in the Indian Ocean which is
part of the Enduring Freedom mission for Afghanistan.