Pirates who hijacked a United Nations World Food Program (WFP) vessel off the Somalia coast last week are seeking audience with the UN officials before releasing the hostages, senior Kenyan official said in Nairobi Wednesday.

Government spokesman Alfred Mutua said the pirates holding eight Kenyans hostage in Somalia are allegedly not interested in the US$500,000 ransom, but want to settle a score with the United Nations.

"The pirates are now demanding to be addressed by the United Nations. They are no longer interested in the ransom," Mutua said by telephone.

WFP which has halted all aid shipments to the Horn of Africa nation said the ship Semlow was taking aid to victims of the last December's Indian Ocean tsunami and was sailing from the Kenyan port of Mombasa to Bossaso in north-eastern Somalia.

The suspension of aid came as efforts to win the release of the hijacked ship carrying food for tsunami victims in Somalia's northeastern Puntland region continued, but with no apparent change in demands from pirates who stormed the vessel last Monday.

Mutua appealed to the United Nations to take immediate action and intervene on the issue to have the captives released unharmed.

He reiterated his earlier stand that the east African nation government would not offer the ransom.
 
Some 28,000 people who lost their homes and livelihoods when the tsunami struck on December 26 are being fed by the UN.

Somalia is awash with some 60,000 militia men and has been without a functioning national government since 1991, which hampered relief efforts to tsunami victims.

Attempts to relocate a new transitional administration -- set up in neighboring Kenya last year -- back home have proved futile.

Earlier this month, the International Maritime Board warned of a surge in piracy in the region and advised vessels to stay at least 85km away from the lawless coast if possible.

The WFP hijacking was the sixth reported piracy incident in Somali waters since March.

(Xinhua News Agency July 7, 2005)