Kenyan minister has denied BBC reports that the tanks seized by Somali pirates were bound for South Sudan.

He also said force should be used to rescue the weapons from the pirates.

He said Kenya would send warships to join the US and Russian ships surrounding the Ukrainian vessel, MV Faina, which is still moored off the Somali coast.

Last week, the Somali government said the ship’s owners were involved in direct negotiations with the pirates, who are demanding a $20 million (£11million ) ransom.

Kenya has always insisted that the military hardware was destined for its army

Officials in Ukraine have denied that GOSS stands for South Sudan but military and diplomatic sources insist that it does.

Sources Nairobi, says that although the import of military hardware to Sudan is not illegal, if the weapons were being passed on, it would put Kenya in a tight spot diplomatically as Kenya helped broker an end to the civil war between South Sudan and the government in Khartoum in 2005.

But Francis Nazario, head of South Sudan’s mission in Brussels, said he had seen the manifest and it did not prove anything.

"What I know is that we have nothing at all to do with the content of this ship, and the ship was not heading for South Sudan," he told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme.

"I think if there was anything like that we would not hide it because constitutionally we have the right to do so, to bring arms from anywhere."

On Tuesday, a Kenyan court granted bail to Andrew Mwangura, a spokesman for the Kenyan chapter of the Seafarers’ Assistance Programme, who had been arrested after he said the tanks were bound for South Sudan.

The pirates want a $20 million ransom for the MV Faina and its valuable cargo

Mr. Mwangura was charged with making alarming statements and illegal possession of marijuana.

However, he has not yet raised the 200,000 shillings, ($2,700) and so he is still in custody.

Last week, Western military experts told the said that the tanks on board the MV Faina were going to Sudan and that the shipment indicated an arms race between northern and southern Sudan had begun.

They are reported to both be building up their forces ahead of a referendum on independence for the South in 2011.

The military experts, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a previous delivery of tanks had taken place last November.