Ransoms bring wealth to Somali pirate bases

Russia has proposed raiding the pirates' land bases such as Eyl, but the NATO alliance has said African nations must take the lead. Few in the gunmen's strongholds showed any fear.

"I know piracy isn't good, but if it wasn't for them I wouldn't be able to make a living," shrugs Kadija Duale, a mother of four in Eyl. She sells the gunmen $3 cups of tea on credit, then collects when they receive their share of ransoms.

A kilo of khat, a popular mild narcotic plant, now costs $65 in Eyl, compared with $20 elsewhere, thanks to pirate demand.

Eyl is in the semi-autonomous northern province of Puntland -- whose main port is Bosasso -- though the Saudi ship is being held further south in Haradheere port, another center of piracy.

As the profits from the crime wave draw in businessmen from around the country, residents in the pirate's coastal bases -- and some inland towns -- have seen development in recent months that is unprecedented in their anarchic nation.

Abdiqadir Yusuf Ow Muse, the Eyl chairman, said his village had existed since 1927, but had long been only a tiny fishing community. This year, he told Reuters, all that had changed.

"Now it's a district with almost all facilities you would expect, because of the convergence of rich pirates," he said.