A HARDLINE Islamist group that has seized control of the Somali town of Haradhere has vowed to find Paul and Rachel Chandler, the British couple held hostage by pirates since last October, and release them unconditionally.

The group, Hizbul Islam, captured Haradhere without a fight after the pirates fled on hearing that it was on its way. The Islamists are feared for their tough enforcement of sharia (Islamic law), including stoning for adultery and amputation for theft.

“We will search [for] the British hostages,” said Sheikh Mohamed Arus, a leading figure in Hizbul Islam, brandishing an AK-47 rifle. “If we see them, we will release them. We will fly them to their homeland without taking any ransom.”

The pirates’ decision to flee appears to have worsened the plight of the Chandlers, from Tunbridge Wells in Kent, who are both in poor health. Since their 38ft yacht, the Lynn Rival, was hijacked as they sailed towards Tanzania on October 23 there have been persistent reports that their physical and mental condition is in decline.

The couple, who are being kept apart, are apparently being forced to move on foot as the pirates believe that the tyre tracks of their 4×4 Land Cruisers could be followed by the Islamists.

It took me several weeks of building up trust among intermediaries to trace the pirates holding them. When I finally met them last week, sitting outside a mosque in Adaado, 180 miles from Haradhere, they appeared nervous. They were worrying about how to deal with both Hizbul Islam fighters and British agents who they believe may try to free the Chandlers.

The pirates regarded me with deep suspicion — convinced that every British passport contains a secret locator chip that would help the authorities to track them down. I showed them my passport and said it was an old one that did not contain any such device. They were reassured.

The men, who ignore Islamic teaching on matters such as drinking alcohol and chewing qat, a leaf with narcotic properties, gradually became more forthcoming. They were obviously terrified of the revenge that Hizbul Islam, which opposes piracy, would wreak if it captured them and they were frustrated that no ransom had yet been paid for the Chandlers after more than six months of captivity.

Maslah Yare, one of the pirates, claimed that the eyesight of Paul Chandler, a 60-year-old retired quantity surveyor, was deteriorating rapidly. He said that when he was first taken hostage Chandler had been able to read; now he could not see books even with his glasses.

The pirate said that Rachel Chandler, a 56-year-old economist, was growing more angry and distressed and occasionally shouted at her captors. “Sometimes she sits there and stares at something for hours,” said Yare. “Other times she shouts Paul’s name in a loud, shrill way as if he can hear her.”

The pirates, who have demanded a £1.6m ransom, fear that Hizbul Islam may force them to hand over the couple for nothing.

“It is getting very difficult to keep them,” said Ali Gedow, speaking with his face half-covered by a scarf to disguise himself. “If we can’t keep them, we will have to give up. We’re not prepared to put our lives at risk.”

The pirates blame the Chandlers’ lack of wealth for the failure of negotiations with third parties for a ransom. More importantly, they say, they want to “get on with their lives”, an apparent reference to a future hijacking attempt.

One of them said that once he received his share of any ransom, he would give up piracy and emigrate to Europe. According to the men, a number of people have offered to pay, including the Chandlers’ own family and the Somali interim government, but the sum proposed was “very little”. They claimed their monthly expenditure was more than £50,000, much of which went to qat traders.

Most of the Haradhere pirates have moved to Hobyo, another pirate base further to the north. Haradhere, which was a busy market town before the Islamist rebels arrived last weekend, was eerily quiet last week. Groups of Hizbul Islam fighters armed with assault rifles patrolled the streets on foot. Others drove past on trucks with machineguns mounted on the back.

Shopkeepers, many of whom supplied the pirates with drink and illicit goods, complained that trade had collapsed since they left.

“Hizbul Islam has brought us security but trade is right down. I don’t think we’re going to be able to stay in business,” a local merchant said.

Experts believe there are few solutions to the problem of piracy. It has flourished since the livelihoods of local fishermen were destroyed by foreign trawlers exploiting the absence of an effective government in Mogadishu to over-fish Somalia’s territorial waters.

More than 300 foreign hostages are being held on about 15 captured vessels and piracy is unlikely to diminish any time soon.

Rescuers admit fatal blunder

The widow of a French yachtsman who died when commandos stormed their yacht to free them from Somali pirates has won an acknowledgment that special forces fired the fatal shot, writes Matthew Campbell.

Chloé Lemaçon urged French generals to admit the mistake for more than a year. Last week, Hervé Morin, the defence minister, finally confirmed the blunder.

As the rescue of Lemaçon and her four-year-old son Colin began, her husband Florent leaned out of a porthole to tell the attackers the pirates were in the front of the boat. She heard an “oooh” sound as he fell back on to her; he had been shot in the eye.

The soldier responsible has apologised. “His eyes shone with sadness,” she writes in a new book. “He thought it was a threat, and fired.”

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Times Online

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