Somalia's president wants partial amnesty for boy pirates

(CNN) -- Somalia's president intends to offer partial amnesty to boys involved with pirate groups, a move designed to curb attacks on shipping off the Horn of Africa, his office says.

"We have been negotiating with pirates indirectly through the elders to see if we can organize a partial amnesty for the young boys lured in this criminal activity," Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said in a statement released by his office Thursday.

The statement didn't detail what shape the partial amnesty would take. Negotiations were in an early stage and details still have to be worked out, the statement said.