Mogadishu - Negotiators paid a $1.6-million ransom for the release of a German-American journalist who was kidnapped in Somalia and held for two years and eight months, a commander of pirates who held him said on Wednesday.
A German spokeswoman would not confirm that money was paid for the freedom of Michael Scott Moore and US policy prohibits paying ransoms.
Moore is “doing well” and receiving medical care, Germany's Foreign Ministry said.
Moore, 45, was flown to Kenya's capital after being freed in Somalia on Tuesday. A special German Foreign Ministry crisis group and German federal police had worked “very closely” with US authorities to win Moore's freedom after he was kidnapped on January 21, 2012, while researching a book on piracy, foreign ministry spokeswoman Sawsan Chebli told The Associated Press in Berlin.
“Given the circumstances, he's doing well,” Chebli said.
She would not comment on what led to his release or on reports that a ransom had been paid, beyond saying “the German government cannot be blackmailed”.
The US military in Africa refused to comment on whether the American military was at all involved in the case or if it would be involved in transporting Moore back to the United States.
The Somali pirates negotiated with Somali intermediaries acting on behalf of Germany, Bile Hussein, a pirate commander in the coastal town of Hobyo, told AP. He said pirates grew tired of holding Moore and were increasingly concerned the US would attempt to use force to secure the journalist's freedom.
Just four days after Moore was kidnapped in the northern Somali town of Galkayo as he was driving from the airport, US Navy SEALs rescued an American and a Dane in a nighttime raid while killing all nine of their guards. The two had also been kidnapped in Galkayo, on October 25, 2011.
Moore had freelanced for Germany's Der Spiegel. He holds both German and American citizenship and is a native of Redondo Beach, California.
Chebli said Moore was at the German Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, on Wednesday.
German officials there denied Moore was present. - Sapa-AP