French Military Police Mobilized After Somalia Hijacking

By Derek Kilner

France has mobilized members of an elite military police force in response to the hijacking of a French yacht last week by Somali pirates. As Derek Kilner reports from Nairobi, the troops have been sent to Djibouti as negotiations with the hijackers proceed.

Members of France’s GIGN, a military police counter-terrorism unit, have been sent to Djibouti, which neighbors Somalia to the North and hosts nearly 3,000 French soldiers.

The French luxury yacht “Ponant” was hijacked by Somali pirates on Friday as it passed through the Gulf of Aden en route from the Seychelles to the Mediterranean Sea. The yacht was carrying 30 crew members, the majority French citizens, but no other passengers.The yacht had been sighted off the coast of Puntland, a relatively stable semi-autonomous region in Somalia’s north. But Puntland officials say the hijackers have moved into southern Somalia.

Puntland’s minister of information Abdirahman Bangah says his government lacks the capacity to go after such pirates and has not been involved in the French response.

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