Guinean Navy Seize Russian Tanker

RIA Novosti: Armed men seize Russian tanker in Guinea

22/ 08/ 2006


A spokesman for the Primorye Shipping Company said 10 armed men wearing the back uniforms of the Guinean Navy, climbed aboard the Luchegorsk tanker and told the captain that it had illegally entered another country's economic zone.

They demanded $20,000 from the captain, but he said he only had $7,000. The group then took over the tanker's communications unit and ordered it to set the course for Conakry, the capital of Guinea.

"Guinea officials have claimed that the Russian vessel entered into the economic zone of Sierra Leone," the spokesman said. "The captain of the Russian tanker has denied the violation."

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RFE/RL: GUINEA SAYS RUSSIAN SHIP WAS BOARDED BY NAVY, NOT PIRATES


"this boat was boarded and inspected by members of the Guinean Navy, who surprised it while it was dealing in fuel products in Guinean waters without authorization." He noted that the Russian ship "was flying no flag, and its owners and crew members know perfectly well what that means. It's very serious." Referring to the Russian suggestions that the armed Guineans were pirates, the source commented that "just by looking at the members of the [Russian] crew, any intelligent person can see that they're the ones who look like pirates."

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allAfrica.com: Guinea: Security Forces Torture, Kill With Impunity

Human Rights Watch (Washington, DC)
August 18, 2006
Posted to the web August 22, 2006


Guinean police and other government security forces routinely torture, assault, rob and sometimes even murder the citizens they are entrusted to protect, said Human Rights Watch in a report released today.

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