Ismail Haji Noor, head of the anti-piracy division of Somalia’s transition government, said talks to free 25 Chinese crewmembers are proceeding well and he expects them to be released within six to eight weeks, the South China Morning Post reported. Noor said that all the crew members are in good health when they met a government envoy sent to check on their condition. The Somali government is not involved in the negotiations, but Noor said that talks were proceeding more quickly than normally. Six China-linked ships have been hijacked off Somalia in the past year and the crews were usually released three months after ransoms were paid. Beijing has never admitted to being in direct talks with the pirates. Piracy specialists estimated that the ransoms are likely to be between US$1-2 million. Meanwhile, the fourth Chinese naval convoy arrived in the Gulf of Aden yesterday to protect ships from Somali pirates, who seized two more ships this week.
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