WILL SEYCHELLES SWAP PIRATES FOR HOSTAGES?

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT LOUIS 000144 SIPDIS AF/E FOR MARIA BEYZEROV AF/RSO FOR JUN BANDO AND MIKE BITTRICK ANTAN FOR DAO PRETORIA FOR LEGAT E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/11/2019 TAGS: MARR PREL MASS MOPPS SE SUBJECT: WILL SEYCHELLES SWAP PIRATES FOR HOSTAGES? REF: A. PORT LOUIS 143 ¶B. PORT LOUIS 137 ¶C. PORT LOUIS 132 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Virginia Blaser for reasons 1.4 (b, d) ¶1. (C) Pressure is mounting on the President of Seychelles to take measures to secure the release of the ten Seychellois being held hostage in Somalia by pirates. The leader of the opposition in the Seychelles claims to be in direct contact with both of the two Somali groups holding the Seychellois captives, and to have helped arranged with both groups a swap of 23 suspect pirates detained in the Seychelles for the ten Secyhellois being held hostage in Somalia. ¶2. (C) During a 6 May meeting with CDA, Wavel Ramkalawan, Leader of the Opposition in Seychelles, described his role in negotiating with one "pirate leader" in Somalia who is holding three of the ten Seychellois hostages. These three presumably came from the March 26 capture of the yacht "Serenity." According to Ramkalawan, on March 26, a Somali identifying himself as "Hassan" called one of Ramkalawan's party subordinates to inform him of the Serenity's capture and to place a demand for USD 3 million in exchange for the Seychellois hostages. The subordinate passed Ramkalawan's number to Hassan, and advised Hassan to negotiate directly with the opposition leader for the hostage release. (NOTE: one of the hostages is a member of Ramkalawan's party, which is the reason Hassan called a party member. END NOTE.) During English-language discussions over subsequent weeks, it seemed that Hassan had little to no influence on the Somali group holding the remaining seven Seychellois captives, who had been abducted from the Indian Ocean Explorer on April 1. Hassan told Ramkalawan that there was "bad blood" between Hassan's group and the group holding the remaining Seychelles captives. Hassan's initial offer to trade his three Seychellois captives in exchange for the nine suspect pirates arrested by Seychelles officials on April 28 (see Ref B) quickly shifted to a trade of three Seychellois for 12 Somalis, once the GOS arrested an additional three Somalis on May 2. Ramkalawan had the impression that Hassan was not aware of the second set of arrests, and appeared greatly interested in them when Ramkalawan raised the arrests during a phone call. Hassan reportedly asked Ramkalawan for information on whether a specific individual was among the second group arrested. Ramkalawan could not recall the name of the person about whom Hassan asked. ¶3. (C) Ramkalawan said he immediately reported the telephone exchanges to the GOS authorities, including providing them with the telephone number ( 252-907-48001) which showed on his cell phone screen when he received calls from Hassan. The opposition leader believed he was in the best position to negotiate further with Hassan, and planned to offer his negotiating services to President Michel the week following his meeting with CDA. ¶4. (C) According to Ramkalawan, the Seychelles is unable to raise the money needed to get the Seychellois hostages released by the pirates, so ransom does not appear a viable solution. At least one private citizen, however, donated roughly USD $100,000 to provide financial support to the victims' families. However, this act was not one of generosity, but a self-serving gesture, said the opposition leader. The donor, wealthy former-Indian businessman Chinnakaman "Siva" Sivasanhkran, is using the good publicity generated by his donation to put pressure on the Government to allow him to purchase outright the island of Coetivy, one of the 115 islands making up the Seychelles. Siva, who recently obtained Seychellois citizenship -- including an "Ambassador at Large" diplomatic passport due, in part, to his many generous "donations" -- hopes to develop the island for tourist purposes, Ramkalawan said. ¶5. (C) In a separate exchange with CDA on May 6, Declan Barber, Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit and a security advisor to the President, also mentioned the possible hostage exchange and said he believed the GOS would, in the end, be able to negotiate a hostage exchange using the Somalis currently being detained in the Seychelles. PORT LOUIS 00000144 002 OF 002 ¶6. (C) Since CDA's 6 May meeting with Ramkalawan, according to press releases, the GOS expects to finalize an agreement with both Somali-based pirate leaders for a complete exchange of the ten Seychellois for the 23 Somali detainees currently held in Seychelles. According to Ramkalawan, who spoke to PolOff on 12 May, the opposition leader received a call from the pirates who had attacked the Indian Ocean Explorer. Instead of demanding the USD 4 million, the second group noted a willingness to exchange their seven Seychellois captives (from the Indian Ocean Explorer) for 11 of the Somalis detained at present in Seychelles, the remaining Somalis not associated with Hassan's group. It was this offer, Ramkalawan said, that firmed the GOS' decision to finalize a swap. The phone number for the second pirate leader showed on Ramkalawan's cell phone as 252-907-52167. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶7. (C) A swap of the Somali detainees for the Seychellois hostages is a way for the GOS to avoid its dilemma of perhaps being unable to convict the detained Somalis for piracy (see ref A),with the added benefit of bringing home the hostages. Captured pirates should of course be prosecuted where that is feasible. But given the weakness of the Seychelles legal system, the GOS may see an exchange as the least bad outcome available. BLASER