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Exclusive: French warship diverted to free luxury yacht crew seized by pirates off Somalia
Debka.com ^ | April 5, 2008

Posted on 04/05/2008 7:39:50 AM PDT by HAL9000

The Le Ponant pleasure yacht was seized Friday in international waters opposite Somalia without passengers on route from the Seychelles to Aden Port and the Mediterranean after its first pleasure trip of the summer season in the Indian Ocean. The 32-man crew was taken hostage.

Our shipping correspondent reports that the French Le Commandant Rouen warship was diverted from NATO’s Afghanistan operation to join the Yemeni coast guard in the hunt for and rescue of the captured craft. The Le Ponant caters to 64 high-profile luxury tourists, one of three owned by Le Compagnie Des Iles du Ponant, a subsidiary of the huge Lebanese-French CMA CGM.

DEBKAfile’s sources note that the Gulf of Aden and Somali shores are rife with pirates. Last year, 24 civilian craft were commandeered by pirates. In one case, the American Navy’s USS Porter opened fire on a pirate ship threatening a Japanese tanker; in another, pirates released a Danish merchant vessel with hostages against a large ransom after holding them for two months.



TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: africa; debka; france; frenchtroops; hostages; leponant; maritime; piracy; pirates; somalia
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1 posted on 04/05/2008 7:39:51 AM PDT by HAL9000
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To: HAL9000
So, what's a "French warship" look like? Anyone got a picture? Yes, I know what I'm asking for.
2 posted on 04/05/2008 7:41:46 AM PDT by Timmy
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To: HAL9000

Thats a fine kettle of fish.. NOW the pirates can take over a French Warship.. for ransome.. if the pirates can stand the smell..


3 posted on 04/05/2008 7:43:51 AM PDT by hosepipe (CAUTION: This propaganda is laced with hyperbole....)
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To: HAL9000

DEBKA aside, a French warship has been assigned to this task.


4 posted on 04/05/2008 7:46:06 AM PDT by RightWhale (Clam down! avoid ataque de nervosa)
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To: HAL9000
DEBKAfile’s sources

You had me going until I got to that.

5 posted on 04/05/2008 7:48:31 AM PDT by PAR35
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To: HAL9000
"DEBKAfile’s sources"

debka has sources?

6 posted on 04/05/2008 7:51:01 AM PDT by robomatik ((wine plug: renascentvineyards.com cabernet sauvignon, riesling, and merlot))
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To: HAL9000

Can the pirates feed that many more hostages? Perhaps the plan is to surrender them to death.


7 posted on 04/05/2008 7:52:32 AM PDT by DainBramage
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To: HAL9000

Not to get in the way of the French Navy-bashing, but are there any squids out there who know whether the French are in command of CTF-150? Serious question, I know . . . please return to your regularly scheduled programming.


8 posted on 04/05/2008 7:54:38 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: HAL9000
I believe we need to be changing the word "Pirates" to "Terrorists" - there's no Johnny Depp here...these people are dangerous and horrible.

There's NO ROMANCE here folks! Call it what it is -- TERRORISM !!!

9 posted on 04/05/2008 7:55:28 AM PDT by NordP (Yeah...Clinton didn't inhale and Obama didn't know 'nothin' 'bout Rev Wright bein' wrong)
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To: DainBramage

Maybe the ransom figure demanded was too high.


10 posted on 04/05/2008 7:56:53 AM PDT by txhurl
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To: Timmy
"So, what's a "French warship" look like? Anyone got a picture? Yes, I know what I'm asking for."

It's the one with the propellers in the front...aids in rapid retreat.

11 posted on 04/05/2008 7:57:31 AM PDT by johnandrhonda (have you hugged your banjo today?)
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To: NordP

> I believe we need to be changing the word “Pirates”
> to “Terrorists”

Exactly.

And to what religion do you suppose these terrorists adhere?


12 posted on 04/05/2008 7:58:57 AM PDT by Westbrook (Having more children does not divide your love, it multiplies it.)
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To: HAL9000

Hope this ship’s propeller stays on - the French have such a hard time with simple things like that...


13 posted on 04/05/2008 7:59:13 AM PDT by txzman (Jer 23:29)
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To: johnandrhonda
“There's NO ROMANCE here folks! Call it what it is — TERRORISM !!!”

Piracy has always been a nasty, dirty business. A little known fact is that the United Nations defined most piracy out of existence, even though piracy has been increasing enormously.

To be a pirate, the crime has to occur with a privately owned craft in international waters for “private gain”.

So, since most piracy occurs in coastal waters, and a great deal occurs under the cover of law of renegade states, and since “terrorists” can claim that they were doing it for ideological reasons rather than “private gain”, most pirates simply are defined out of existence.

14 posted on 04/05/2008 8:03:31 AM PDT by marktwain
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To: HAL9000

The French navy doesn’t seem to have a ship of that name.

http://www.defense.gouv.fr/marine/decouverte/organisation/unites/batiments_de_surface/batiments_de_combat/liste_des_batiments_de_combat_de_la_marine_nationale_par_unite

The form of the name would indicate it would be a Type A69, but here’s their list of that type:

Avisos type A69

* Aviso Lieutenant de vaisseau Le Hénaff (F 789)
* Aviso Lieutenant de vaisseau Lavallée (F 790)
* Aviso Commandant l’Herminier (F 791)
* Aviso Premier maître l’Her (F 792)
* Aviso Commandant Blaison (F 793)
* Aviso Enseigne de vaisseau Jacoubet (F 794)
* Aviso Commandant Ducuing (F 795)
* Aviso Commandant Birot (F 796)
* Aviso Commandant Bouan (F 797)

It’s possible that it’s a new ship and they haven’t updated their website yet. But we are talking a known unreliable source. A google of “Le Commandant Rouen” turns up only this story.

I consider it more ‘creative writing’ until there’s a legitimate source.


15 posted on 04/05/2008 8:03:42 AM PDT by PAR35
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To: txflake

So now they are going to surrender a warship.


16 posted on 04/05/2008 8:12:08 AM PDT by DainBramage
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To: Timmy
Well, here's the "Le Vengeur" being sunk by the Royal Navy in 1794.

Here's the French battleship "Bouvet" being sunk by the Turkish guns in the Dardanelles, 1915.

Here's the Vichy France "Dunkerque" being sunk by the British at Oran harbor in 1940

17 posted on 04/05/2008 8:13:58 AM PDT by Emperor Palpatine (And infidel beheadings)
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To: Timmy
It's actually the Commandant Bouan, a small frigate intended for littoral combat. One of the lowest-tech French warship designs - most ships of its class have been sold to Turkey or decomissioned - but perfectly adequate for dealing with Somali pirates.


18 posted on 04/05/2008 8:14:55 AM PDT by Alter Kaker (Gravitation is a theory, not a fact. It should be approached with an open mind...)
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To: PAR35
Might look a little like
This


19 posted on 04/05/2008 8:15:34 AM PDT by HangnJudge
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To: Emperor Palpatine

So I take it you’re rooting against America’s French allies and for the Islamist terorists who kidnapped 30 French citizens? Charming!


20 posted on 04/05/2008 8:15:48 AM PDT by Alter Kaker (Gravitation is a theory, not a fact. It should be approached with an open mind...)
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