DW-World.de
Deutsche Welle

Seven countries from the Middle East and Africa are meeting in Cairo, Egypt to discuss ways to stop piracy in the Red Sea after the weekend kidnapping of the Saudi supertanker "Sirius Star". The head of the African Union Jean Ping warned that the rise in piracy off the coast of Somalia has "far reaching consequences" as it represents a threat to the Suez Canal, one of the major shipping routes in the world. Meanwhile, Somali pirates have demanded 25 million dollars for the release of the supertanker containing 100 million dollars worth of crude oil. A spokesman for the pirates gave a deadline of ten days for the ransom to be paid, threatening "disastrous" consequences if the money is not handed over according to the Arabic television channel Al-Jazeera.