(CNSNews.com) – A standoff between the U.S. Navy and pirates holding an American ship’s captain off the Horn of Africa continued overnight, as reinforcements headed for the scene to join a destroyer already there.
 
President Barack Obama refused to say anything about the crisis for a second day on Thursday.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the safe return of Capt. Richard Phillips, held by a group of pirates on a lifeboat, was the top priority. (Clinton laughed about piracy during a photo-op with the Moroccan foreign minister on Wednesday.)
 
The pirates hijacked the U.S.-flagged cargo vessel Maersk Alabama on Wednesday, then escaped with Phillips in the lifeboat when its American crewmembers retook the ship.
 
“The captain remains with the pirates on the lifeboat within full visibility of the [U.S. Navy destroyer] USS Bainbridge,” the Maersk shipping company said in an update.
 
“The captain has been in touch with the crew and with the USS Bainbridge. He has radio contact and has been provided with additional batteries and provisions. The most recent communication indicates that the captain is unharmed.”
 
Maersk said the 17,000-ton freighter and its crew had sailed away from the area at the direction of the Navy.
 
“The crew is very resilient and we commend them for their professionalism. They continue to show poise in handling a difficult situation and they remain deeply concerned for the welfare of their captain.”
 
U.S. Central Command head Gen. David Petraeus, speaking in Florida, said military reinforcements would arrive at the scene of the confrontation within 48 hours.
 
The seizure of the cargo vessel, which is carrying food aid destined for East Africa, was the first such episode to affect an American ship and crew, but just the latest in a long series of attacks by Somalia-based pirates on ships plying one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
 
Among the most prominent cases in recent months were the seizure of a Ukrainian freighter transporting heavy weaponry and a Saudi-owned tanker carrying two million barrels of crude oil. According to the International Maritime Bureau, 42 ships were seized last year and more than 800 crewmembers taken hostage.
 
The well-armed pirates have obtained millions of dollars in ransom from shipping companies in exchange for returning captured vessels and crew. Estimates of ransom paid out during 2008 range from $18-$30 million.
 
Warships from the U.S., European nations, India and elsewhere are deployed in the affected zone – the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somalia and Kenya – but, as senior military officers have frequently noted, the area is more than 1.1 million square miles in area, or about four times the size of Texas.
 
“The length of the Somali coastline is roughly the same length as the entire Eastern Seaboard of the United States,” the Combined Maritime Forces said in an advisory issued in Bahrain this week.
 
Speaking after talks with Gates and their Australian counterparts, Clinton said the pirates were “nothing more than criminals. And we are bringing to bear a number of our assets, including naval and FBI … in order to resolve the hostage situation and bring the pirates to justice.”
 
Clinton acknowledged that “instability in Somalia” was a contributory factor in the piracy problem. Somalia has been wracked by internal strife and lawlessness for almost two decades.
 
Al-Qaeda and other extremist groups have long had a presence there, and al-Shabaab, one of the main and deadliest Islamist factions currently fighting for control of Somalia, has close ties to al Qaeda, according to the U.S.
 
Security analyst Bahukutumbi Raman, a former Indian counter terrorism chief, said questions need to be asked about whether al-Qaeda is benefiting from the piracy or ransom payments.
 
“The possibility of links between al-Qaeda and at least some of the pirate groups needs to be taken seriously,” he said. “Ever since 9/11, al-Qaeda has been wanting to organize a major act of maritime terrorism to disrupt word trade and movement of energy supplies.”
 
Raman argued that it was time to treat the campaign against the Somali pirates as seriously as the campaign against al-Qaeda.
 
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters Thursday that although al-Qaeda does have a presence in Somalia, the hijackings do not appear to be linked to the terror network.