2008-10-02 17:43:27 - A little unknown self styled East Africa Seafarer's Assistance Program founded by its head Andrew Mwangura, a former seaman has for the past decade been the only source of contact for shipping companies in the event of a hijacked ship off Somalia.

With every ship hijacked in Somalia's Majertenia coastline, Andrew Mwangura and his organisation came out of the woodwork to request ransom be paid to pirates "promptly" with the total assistance of the Kenyan government officials.

The breakdown between Mwangura and Kenyan officials began as soon as one Ukrainian ship assumed to be carrying suspicious military cargo to Mombassa was hijacked.

Unlike before when Kenyan officials were glad to receive part of the ransom payments to pirates, this time it was the Kenyans themselves hoping to receive favour from the pirates.

As pirates held on to their original demand, Kenyan officials who once colluded with Mwangura increasingly became estranged although pirates demand has reportedly fallen to only $5 Million compared to original $30 Million. The final breakdown came to light when Mwangura gave advice to international community to "give them what they want before the sharks come". The sharks means any armed effort to subdue pirates as the costs of such operations might be incurred by insurance companies or shipping companies. As a result, shipping companies often choose to pay an amount nearing one or two million dollars as the case of one Malaysian cargo ship released two weeks ago.

For any naval vessel based in Somalia coastlines to intervene, the final decision to free a besieged ship rests upon ships owners unlike the perceived naval forces "patrolling" Somalia coastlines. They can do nothing but watch from distance as the USA naval forces have lately boasted of their monitoring capabilities in regards to whether military cargo was off-loaded or not.

Mwangura's arrest may thwart pirates confidence to negotiate for better ransom, but other little helpers of pirates shall also be flushed out of Kenya including officials representing the "Transitional Federal Government" for Somalia to finally put a stop to this criminal enterprise based in Mombassa. The sophistications of this pirate network spans across media outlets used for disseminating misleading information to alarm the relatives of hostages and owners of ships to encourage fast payments of ransom.