Arrest Warrant Issued for Suspected Slave Ship Crew

A decrepit vessel suspected of carrying child slaves was believed to be drifting off western Africa Sunday as authorities sought suspects in a human trade network stretching across nearly half the continent.

Officials in Benin and neighboring countries along West Africa's coast are unsure what happened to the Nigerian-registered MV Etireno since it was refused entry to two African ports over the past week. Aid workers said the slave ship was just one example of a regionwide problem in which Benin ¡ª a nation once called the Slave Coast ¡ª was at the center.

Benin has issued international arrest warrants for the ship's Nigerian owner, captain and crew, police child-protection officer Martin Degan said.

U.N. officials have said they believed the Etireno could contain 100-250 children from Benin and other African countries destined for slavery.

Warrants were also issued for three Benin citizens. One, a businessman, was found in Gabon, where authorities suspect he had been waiting for the slave ship to dock, Benin Social Protection Minister Ramatou Baba Moussa said.

Moussa confirmed that Benin's state shipping firm had overseen docking and other services for the ship when it started out on its voyage about three weeks ago.

She denied the government knew about the human smuggling, but didn't rule out involvement by shipping and port officials.

"We will expect them to answer for this," she said.

A U.N. children's agency official, Nicolas Pron, said the Nigerian ship captain had a criminal record and had been linked to child trafficking in the past.

The whereabouts of the ship remain a mystery. Benin officials said it had been turned away Thursday from Douala port in Cameroon and was reportedly bound for Benin's main city, Cotonou. The sea voyage normally takes just two days.

The ship was earlier prevented from docking in Gabon. All the countries are along the Gulf of Guinea.

Officials with the U.N. children's agency did not discount the possibility that the boat may have docked elsewhere.

There are several major ports in Nigeria where it may have docked, avoiding detection by bribing port officials. Nigeria is considered one of the world's most corrupt nations and regulation enforcement is often lax.

Authorities in Benin were unable to launch an effective search for the ship since the country has only about five small patrol boats, often in poor repair, Benin officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Benin is one of the world's poorest nations while Gabon, a thinly populated, oil-producing nation to the southeast, is relatively wealthy by African standards.

Despite international efforts to stamp out child trafficking, it remains a serious problem in West and Central Africa, where desperately poor parents are sometimes willing to give up their children for as little as $14 to smuggling rings that promise to find them jobs and educate them.






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