MOMBASA, Kenya, March 23 (Reuters) - Families of six Kenyan hostages pleaded with their government on Friday to secure the release of loved ones being held by pirates off north Somalia. Somali gunmen used speedboats to intercept the Kenyan-owned MV Rozen in late February, storming the ship and taking the six Kenyan and six Sri Lankan crew hostage. It was the first reported hijacking since a December war ousted Islamists who had controlled south Somalia and temporarily halted a spate of piracy. "We have not heard from our loved ones. Communication with the government has also been unsatisfactory. The government must put more pressure on the Puntland authority to have our people released," said Riziki Hamisi whose husband is a hostage. Authorities from the semi-autonomous Puntland region of Somalia arrested four men in connection with the raid, but the ship has been seen anchored off the coast. Kenyan officials were not immediately available for comment. The ship, chartered by the U.N. World Food Programme from Mombasa-based Motaku Shipping agency, was seized after unloading 1,800 tonnes of food aid to two northern Somali ports. "It has been difficult for us. The government is our only hope. Reports from Somalia are traumatizing every day," said Mwidadi Hanafi, a brother of another hostage, at a news conference in Mombasa port. "We need to see our loved ones once again and hopefully, very soon." Pirates, who had made Somalia's coastline one of the most dangerous in the world, vanished from Somali waters after the Islamists took power last year. But analysts say they are regrouping.
