Somali pirates have lowered their ransom demand and are ready to free 47 Taiwanese, Chinese, Indonesia, Filipino and Vietnamese crew on three Taiwan fishing boats as soon as the ransom has been paid, a newspaper said on Monday.
”The agreement was reached Sunday following talks between Somali government officials, UN human rights representative in Somalia, the Malaysian agent for the Taiwan trawlers and the pirates,” the United Daily News reported.
”The pirates agreed to lower the ransom for each boat from 500 000 US dollars to 50 000 — 100 000 US dollars, and promised not to harm the hostages,” UDN said.
”The Somali government agreed to exempt the pirates from the death penalty if the pirates released all hostages,” the paper said.
”Taiwan officials and the ship owners will fly to Somalia on Tuesday, at the earliest, to negotiate with the pirates on the ransom,” it said.
The UDN said Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and Foreign Minister Abdullahi Sheikh Ismail have been monitoring developments of the hostage crisis.
On Sunday, Ismail phoned Huang Shun-chang, brother of a Taiwan ship owner, to tell him the outcome of the negotiations with the rebels.
”This incident has damaged Somali’s international image. President Adbdullahi is very angry and asked Taiwan not to pay a cent,” Ismail told Huang who lives in Malaysia.
”But for the safety of the hostages, the Somali government compromised, asking the pirates to lower the ransom and free the hostages in exchange for exempting them from the death penalty,” the paper quoted Ismail as saying.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Ching-lung told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur news agency that Taiwan negotiators have arrived in the Kenyan capital Nairobi to press for the release of the hostages.
The three Taiwan tuna trawlers were seized by Somali pirates at the port of Kismayo on August 16 as they were picking up a fishing licence.
The trawlers carried three Taiwanese captains and 44 crew — 14 Indonesians, 14 Chinese, 12 Filipinos and four Vietnamese.
Somali rebels have recently accused foreign ships of illegally fishing in Somali waters, and have seized a UN Food Programme’s ship carrying food aid for Somali tsunami victims. – Sapa-DPA