More than $150 million paid to pirates in past year, official says

NAIROBI, Kenya (CNN) - More than $150 million dollars has been paid to
pirates around the Horn of Africa over the past 12 months, Kenya's foreign
minister said Friday.The money is encouraging them to continue and become more brazen in their
attacks, Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula told a news conference in the Kenyan
capital.

"That is why they are becoming more and more audacious in their
activities," Wetangula said.

Pirates have attacked more than 90 vessels off East Africa so far this
year, according to the International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Center,
which monitors piracy around the world. The attacks have increased in recent
weeks, the PRC says.

The ransoms being paid to the pirates are also increasing, maritime
security experts say. The method of paying the ransoms is changing, too, and
has become one of the most complicated and dangerous sticking points in
negotiations with pirates, the experts say.