MOGADISHU, Oct 12: Pirates holding a Ukrainian arms ship off the Somali coast have rejected a local mediator, delaying efforts to free the freighter laden with battle tanks and others arms, elders and a pirate said on Sunday.

They said the pirates had agreed on Saturday to free the ship, hijacked on Sept 25 while headed to the Kenyan port city of Mombasa, but later walked out of the deal insisting that Somali mediators be withdrawn.

“The talks between pirates and ship owners totally stopped yesterday (Saturday) after the pirates insisted Somali brokers be removed from the process to negotiate,” said Ahmed Abshir Hasan, an elder in the pirates’ lair of Harardhere.

“The commanders of the pirates on the ship reported to us that the talks totally stopped, we don’t know why they refused those brokers in the last minutes after working between them for the last week,” he said.

Elders in Harardhere, about 100 kilometres south of Hobyo, where the MV Faina with 21 crew members is anchored, said the hijackers had settled for a $10-million-dollar ransom.

They had initially demanded $35 million before dropping the figure to 20 million.—AFP