MOGADISHU, Somalia - A man claiming to speak for pirates holding a Ukrainian arms ship off the Somali coast says an agreement on freeing the vessel is near.
The man identified himself as Jama Aden and answered the satellite telephone of the pirates' normal spokesman, Sugule Ali. He says the original ransom demand of $20 million has been reduced to $8 million and adds that talks with the owners are going well.
A man who answered the phone at Tomex Team, the ship's operator based in the Black Sea port of Odessa, declined to comment or give his name.
He said only that the matter was being handled by Ukrainian authorities.
Six U.S. warships have surrounded the Faina, which was hijacked late last month with 21 crew on board. Officials in Moscow say the ship's Russian captain died of a heart condition soon after the hijacking nearly two weeks ago.
The U.S. warships have been tracking the ship amid fears its weapons might fall into the hands of insurgents in Somalia.
Aden said a small boat was resupplying the Ukrainian vessel with food and qat, a narcotic leaf popular in Somalia.
"The crew is doing well," he added.
The Faina's hijacking, the most high-profile off Somalia this year, illustrates the ability of a handful of pirates to menace a key international shipping lane despite the deployment of warships by global powers.
More than two dozen ships have been hijacked off Somalia's coast this year.
