American ship captain Richard Phillips boarded a plane in Kenya early
Friday and headed home after surviving his five-day ordeal in a
lifeboat with pirates off the coast of Somalia.
His Vermont hometown planned a hero's welcome.
In
Somalia, Prime Minister Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke said his government
has information about the pirates and could go after them with help
from the international community.
Mr. Sharmarke told the
Associated Press he would have a proposal on fighting pirates ready
next week for an international conference focused on Somalia.
But
Somalia's government only controls a small territory around the capital, Mogadishu, with the help of international peacekeepers, and donor
countries have been wary to fund them.
On
Thursday, U.S. officials told U.S. news organizations (CBS and AP) the
captured Somali pirate who held Phillips hostage would be tried in the
United States. France also said it plans to turn 11 captured pirates
over to Kenyan authorities.
Nearly a dozen countries are
running naval patrols off Somalia to combat pirates who have hijacked
some 60 ships since the start of 2008.
Japan says it is sending two planes and 150 personnel to aid two ships currently escorting Japanese commercial vessels.
The United Nations says pirates are currently holding 17 hijacked vessels and about 300 hostages.
In
some past cases, ship owners have paid pirates more than $1 million for the release of ships and crews. U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton said Wednesday the U.S. should track this money, as it
does with terrorists and drug traffickers.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
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