The Somali pirates who hijacked a Kenyan-registered vessel laden with food aid off the northeastern coast of Somalia have let it dock at a port north of Mogadishu, the UN food agency WFP confirmed Monday.

"We can confirm that the ship has docked in the port of El Maan," said WFP spokesperson McGuffin by telephone.

The crew of the ship consists of eight Kenyans, a Tanzanian engineer and a Sri Lankan captain.

The Somali pirates, who have been holding the ship for over two months, reportedly told a Somali radio station that they would leave the ship after its cargo has been offloaded and handed over the transitional government and that their allies would supervise the distribution of the food to residents of central Somalia.

McGuffin said the UN agency had negotiated with El Maan port authorities through the Somalia transitional government to guarantee the free passage of food to the central region.

The MV Semlow was hijacked on June 27 between Haradhere and Hobyo, some 400 km northeast of Mogadishu, on its way to the Gulf of Aden port of Bossaso, in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland.

The WFP had announced a breakthrough in the negotiations on August 6 only for the pirates to renege later forcing the UN to renew appeal for the release of the hostages.

The vessel had been chartered by the WFP to deliver some 850 tons of rice to survivors of the December 26 Indian Ocean tsunami, which devastated much of the country's northeastern coastline.

Some 28,000 people who lost their homes and livelihoods when the tsunami struck on December 26 are being fed by the United Nations.

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.

In July, the International Maritime Board warned of a surge in piracy in the region and advised vessels to stay at least 85 km away from the lawless coast if possible. The WFP hijacking was the sixth reported piracy incident in Somali waters since March.

(Xinhua News Agency September 20, 2005)