By Abdi Sheikh
Mogadishu - Somali pirates holding a Saudi super-tanker after the largest hijacking in maritime history have reduced their ransom demand to $15-million (about R157-million), an Islamist leader and regional maritime group both said on Monday.
The November 15 capture of the Sirius Star - with $100-million of oil and 25 crew members from Britain, Poland, Croatia, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines - has focused world attention on rampant piracy off the failed Horn of Africa state.
Scores of attacks in 2008 have brought millions of dollars of ransom payments, hiked up shipping insurance costs, sent foreign naval patrols rushing to the area, and left about a dozen boats with more than 200 hostages still in pirate hands.
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The gang had originally been quoted as wanting $25-million to release the Sirius Star, which was captured far from Somali waters about 450 nautical miles south-east of Kenya.
But Islamist spokesperson Abdirahim Isse Adow, whose men are in the Haradheere area where the ship is being held offshore, said the demand went down.
"Middlemen have given a $15-million ransom figure for the Saudi ship. That is the issue now," he said.
Residents say pirates have taken the ship further out to about 100 km off the coast of central Somalia after Islamist militia poured into the town in search of the pirates.
Adow, who represents the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), says his men are out to confront the pirates and free the Saudi Arabian Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) because it is a "Muslim" ship.
But residents say other Islamist militia want a cut of any ransom payment.
Andrew Mwangura, co-ordinator of Mombasa-based East Africa Seafarers Programme, said his sources were confirming a reduced $15-million demand.
"The ship has moved into deeper waters, but it cannot go too far because of patrols," he said.
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