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NAIROBI, Nov 20, 2008 (AFP) - Somali pirates who hijacked Saudi oil super-tanker Sirius Star on Thursday are demanding 25 million dollars in ransom and have set a 10-day deadline, one of the pirates told AFP.
"We are demanding 25 million dollars from the Saudi owners of the tanker. We do not want long-term discussions to resolve the matter," Mohamed Said told AFP from the ship.
"The Saudis have 10 days to comply, otherwise we will take action that could be disastrous," Said added, without elaborating.
Seized at the weekend in the Indian Ocean some 500 miles (800 kilometres) off the coast of Kenya, the Sirius Star is now anchored at the Somali pirate lair of Harardhere, according to local officials.
The super-tanker was loaded to capacity with two million barrels of oil when it was seized along with its crew of 25 -- 19 from the Philippines, two from Britain, two from Poland, one Croatian and one Saudi.
It was the largest ship yet taken by Somali pirates and the attack furthest away from Somalia.
On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal said the ship's owners are in talks with the pirates, but the company that operates the Sirius Star has remained tight-lipped about the claims of negotiations.
"We cannot confirm, nor deny" reports of negotiations with the hijackers, said Mihir Sapur, the spokesman of Vela International, a subsidiary of Saudi oil giant Saudi Aramco.
As international rage mounted over a situation described by the International Maritime Bureau as "out of control," the African Union said the surge in piracy was a result of worsening security in Somalia.
"This is a clear indication of the deteroriating situation with serious consequences for the country, region and the international community at large," AU Commission chief Jean Ping said in a statement released in Addis Ababa.
He called for "stronger and more co-ordinated efforts," to return stability to Somalia, "including a rapid deployment of a United Nations peace force."
Somalia has lacked an effective central authority since the 1991 ouster of president Mohamed Siad Barre set off bloody power struggles that have defied numerous bids to restore nomalcy.
Russia's ambassador to NATO has meanwhile called for an international ground military operation to better combat rampant piracy in the region.
"It's up to the European Union, NATO and others to launch a coastal land operation to eliminate the pirates," Ambassador Dmitry Rogozin told AFP late Wednesday.
Rogozin, whose country has a ship in the waters near the lawless Horn of Africa country, insisted that "naval action alone will not be enough to liquidate the threat of piracy".
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