Report: Pirates, Ukrainains nearing deal

BOSASSO, Somalia, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Negotiations between Somali pirates and the owners of a hijacked Ukrainian arms ship were nearing completion, a shipping industry analyst says.

The Russian Web site Sovfracht Maritime Bulletin says a final agreement between the pirates and the owners of the MV Faina, captured in September in the Gulf of Aden, could free the ship within the next two weeks, the German non-governmental organization Ecoterra International reported Sunday.

The group cited Sovfracht saying, "an agreement has basically been reached, there are just some details that have to be ironed out," adding that it expected the ship and its crew to be freed in "the next two weeks or so."

Ecoterra said other reports that the negotiations had been stalled for the last five days could not be confirmed.

The group also noted Lloyd's of London has determined al-Qaida terrorists have formed a Gulf of Aden flotilla of 20 ships stationed in small harbors and island shelters in the Horn of Africa, as well as on islands in the Indonesian archipelago.

The terrorists could carry out seaborne suicide bombings using ships packed with explosives and disguised as pirates, experts told Ecoterra.