The French Navy has handed over eight suspected pirates captured in the Gulf of Aden to the authorities of Somalia's breakaway state of Puntland, an official said Friday. "The Puntland regional government received eight pirates from the French Navy, who intercepted them while they were attacking a commercial vessel," Puntland Assistant Minister for Seaports Abdel-Kadir Moussa Yusuf told reporters."They will be charged for their crimes according to criminal law. This is the second time the French Navy has transferred captured pirates to Puntland," he said.
The Premier Maitre L'Her, a French frigate patrolling the waters as part of an EU task force, intercepted the pirates Thursday after twice responding to a distress call from the Panamanian-flagged S. Venus.
In October, the French Navy handed over nine suspected pirates to Puntland. Another 12 suspected pirates are being held in France. They were arrested during two separate operations to free the crew of two French yachts in April and September 2008.
Yusuf praised France for combating piracy, which has wreaked panic in world shipping by turning the Gulf of Aden into the world's most dangerous waters, and for handing over suspects. "The French Navy is cooperating and they are the only ones who are sending prisoners to Somalia," he told reporters in Bosasso, Puntland's main port on the Gulf of Aden.
In November, the British Navy handed over eight suspected pirates to the authorities of Kenya and in December signed a memorandum of understanding providing a legal framework for such cooperation.
Somalia is not party to any of the treaties and conventions regulating the world's waters and many of the nations represented in the naval coalitions patrolling pirate-infested zones have been reluctant to send suspects there.
Also on Friday, a Chinese cargo ship evaded two pirate boats chasing it in the Gulf of Aden, state media said, citing officials.
Hong Kong-registered Chipolbrok Sun was pursued by two pirate speedboats in the Gulf's northern region, Zhai Jiugang of the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency. The captain assembled the crew at the stern to fight off the pirates and contacted the International Maritime Bureau and two warships in nearby waters for assistance, the report said.
The Chipolbrok Sun, owned by the Chinese-Polish Joint Stock Shipping Company, managed to shake off its assailants half an hour after first sighting them, the report said, giving no further details.
China warned Somali pirates last week it was prepared to use force, having dispatched warships to the Gulf of Aden to combat a wave of piracy that has disrupted international shipping.