MOGADISHU: Negotiators paid a $1.6 million ransom for the release of a German-American journalist who was kidnapped in Somalia and held for two years and eight months, a commander of pirates who held him said on Wednesday.
Michael Scott Moore was “doing well” and receiving medical care, Germany’s Foreign Ministry said. Moore, 45, was flown to Kenya’s capital after being freed in Somalia on Tuesday.
A special German Foreign Ministry crisis group and German federal police had worked “very closely” with US authorities to win Moore’s freedom after he was kidnapped on Jan 21, 2012, while researching a book on piracy, foreign ministry spokeswoman Sawsan Chebli said in Berlin. “Given the circumstances, he’s doing well,” Chebli said. She would not comment on what led to his release or on reports that a ransom had been paid, beyond saying “the German government cannot be blackmailed.
“The Somali pirates negotiated with Somali intermediaries acting on behalf of Germany, Bile Hussein, a pirate commander in the coastal town of Hobyo, said.
