The president of Somalia's Puntland regional government returned home Saturday after a weeks-long trip that included stopovers in Djibouti and Saudi Arabia, Radio Garowe reported.

President Adde Muse landed at Bender Qassim International Airport in the port city of Bossaso, 1500km north of the national capital Mogadishu.

Senior government officials, including Vice President Hassan Dahir Afqura, welcomed the Puntland leader at the airport.

Ahmed Ali Hashi, Speaker of the Puntland Parliament, was a member of President Muse's delegation that also visited Germany, where the Puntland leader underwent a routine medical checkup.

In brief comments to the media, President Muse said his overseas trip was "very successful" and promised changes "very soon."

Pirates busted

Puntland police arrested two piracy suspects and seized funds in the sum of US$86,000 in the town of Qardho, 240km south of Bossaso, a government official said.

Yasin Said Hussein, governor of Karkar region, told Radio Garowe that police arrested two pirate suspects and their driver.

"The suspects were transferred to a jail in Bossaso where they will wait for court," Governor Hussein said, adding that two of the suspects "confessed" to owning the money.

Currently, more than 10 foreign ships are being held for ransom near the Puntland coast. Last week, Somali pirates seized a Ukrainian vessels with 33 Soviet-made tanks on board.

Puntland, in Somalia's northeast, is a relatively stable region with a functioning regional administration for the past 10 years.