Egypt: triumphant welcome of the fishermen who survived the Somali pirates

PORT OF ATAKA (Egypt) - Families in jubilant fanfare and Whirling Dervishes: a triumphant welcome Sunday was reserved for the new "heroes" of Egypt, fishermen who managed to escape from Somali pirates after more than four months in captivity.

•     At daybreak, the families of the thirty sailors of the Momtaz I and the Ahmad Samara, captured in April, began arriving at Ataka, a fishing port backed by the mountains of Sinai, not far from Suez (eastern Cairo).
  
      After hours of waiting, the rusted hulls of both vessels are in sight. Immediately, there was an explosion of joy. Cries of joy, dinghies and dance with the band and the Whirling Dervishes engaged for the occasion.
  
      On a huge banner, we read: "Welcome to the son of Egypt, the fishermen heroes.
  
      Once the boat docked, the ex-prisoners, haggard but happy, crying, flowed into the arms of their loved ones. Subject to emotion and an overwhelming heat, the wife of one of the fishermen fainted briefly, before being revived by the emergency services.
  
      "This is the happiest day of my life," said an emotional father of one of the sailors, Ismaïl Abdessalam, while a young fisherman of 20, Sayyed Sobhi, said he is "happy to be back in country after months of misery and abuse."
  
      But if the joy and relief is palpable, gray areas remain regarding the circumstances of the liberation of the Egyptians.
  
     According to official media, a "secret" plan was developed by the Egyptian authorities in collaboration with the Somali government, which was then implemented by the fishermen.
  
      However, according to the sailors, no external assistance was forthcoming, if not the owner of Momtaz I, Hassan Khalil. But he remains himself evasive.
  
      "It’s none of your business. It is a matter between God and us", he replied to a question on an eventual ransom mentioned by newspapers.
  
      One of the sailors of Momtaz I, Ibrahim Mohammed Naim, 30, denies any external intervention.
  
      "One day, we agreed to escape. The decision was taken after the translator pirates we had said:" Nobody will release you. Your situation is getting worse, "he says to the press.
  
      "We have succeeded in seizing their weapons. Some slept, and each of us has fought for his life. We were not afraid to die," he says in a hesitant voice, visibly exhausted. But "there was nothing on the part of Egypt," he says.
  
      "What is certain," adds Hamadein Sabbahi, MP from Borg el-Borollos (Nile Delta), from which are originate many fishermen, "is that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has done nothing. What is likely is that the intelligence services have provided logistical support. But the fishermen could escape."
  
      Sailors are unanimous on any "bad treatment" they were submitted.
  
      "The pirates wanted us to starve. They gave us rice infested with vermin. We were unable to wash for all these months," said Mohamed el-Hedabi Tolba.
  
      "They threatened to kill us regularly," says Naim Ibrahim Mohammed.
  
      All have confirmed eight captured pirates, but they were not with the two teams Sunday. According to a fisherman, they were taken by the Egyptian authorities to an unknown destination before the vessels arrive in port Ataka.
  
      
  Ennaharonline/ M. O.