Suspected Somali pirates
Photograph by: AFP
Credit: AFP

Having originally told the BBC by telephone on Saturday that Paul and Rachel Chandler, aged 59 and 55, would be released only after $7-million (R54-million) had been handed over, the group have now changed their demand.

They have told the BBC that they will accept $163000 (R1.25-million).

The pirates also warned military powers in the area of the Somali coast and in the Indian Ocean not to attack or try to rescue the couple.

"If they do nothing to us, we will do nothing to them," the group said.

The Chandlers were seized from their boat, the Lynn Rival, on October 23 by armed men. The yacht was found abandoned in international waters.

On Saturday, a spokesman for the British government rejected the demands, saying: "The government isn't going to make any substantive concessions to hostage-takers, and that includes the payment of ransom."

The pirates said the money was partly in compensation for the damage caused by Nato-led anti-piracy operations off the Somali coast.

"They have destroyed a lot of equipment belonging to the poor local fishermen," they said.

Somali Prime Minister Omar Sharmarke said in London that his government was attempting to make contact with the pirates.

Piracy is rife off the coast of Somalia, which has not had an effective government since 1991.

Young men take to the sea in search of multimillion-dollar ransoms despite the presence of over a dozen warships of various nations, including the US, the UK, France and Russia. The ships were dispatched to the Gulf of Aden last year to combat piracy.

The pirates have expanded their operations further out into the Indian Ocean to avoid the patrols.

In the last few weeks, pirates have seized a Chinese cargo ship with 25 crew, a Spanish fishing boat with 36 crew and a Panamian cargo vessel carrying 26 seamen.