|
MOGADISHU, July 18, 2009 –
Somalia's al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab movement has taken possession of
both French hostages seized in Mogadishu after winning a tussle with
another rebel group holding one of them, insurgent sources said on
Friday.
Gunmen stormed a Mogadishu hotel on Tuesday to grab the Frenchmen, who
were working as security advisers for President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's
government.
Kidnappings in the Horn of Africa nation are fairly common -- usually of
Somalis, sometimes of foreigners and increasingly of ship crews off the
coast. They are just one symptom of an 18-year conflict that has killed
tens of thousands.
Rebels and an official said the two French agents were seized by a
faction in the security forces linked to insurgents. It handed them to
Hizbul Islam, who initially passed one to al Shabaab then handed the
other over on Thursday night, the rebel sources said.
"We have handed over to al Shabaab the second Frenchman," a militia
leader of the Hizbul Islam, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. "We
had been arguing a lot, and we were on the verge of killing among
ourselves."
A senior al Shabaab member, reached by Reuters, confirmed the group was
holding the Frenchmen but would not comment on their fate. "We have both
the French security consultants in our stronghold area," he told
Reuters, declining to be named.
"Our leaders will decide what happens next."
The men are being held in Mogadishu.
Hizbul Islam and al Shabaab have close links -- frequently fighting
alongside one another and sharing the same flag, weapons and cars.
Analysts say, however, that al Shabaab takes a harder line than Sheikh
Hassan Dahir Aweys' Hizbul Islam.
MOGADISHU EXODUS
Aweys also led al Shabaab when it was the armed wing of the Islamic
Courts movement that controlled Mogadishu and much of the south in 2006
before being ousted by an Ethiopian offensive.
Though there are fears al Shabaab may seek to punish the Frenchmen, the
government and many ordinary Somalis believe their motivation is
financial.
In the past, most kidnappings of foreigners in Somalia have ended with
releases after ransom payments, but al Shabaab is known for killing
Somali hostages rather than demanding money.
"This incident is purely for monetary purposes," Foreign Minister
Mohamed Abdillahi Omaar told Reuters on Thursday.
Western security services view al Shabaab as a proxy for Osama bin
Laden's al Qaeda network in the failed Horn of Africa state, which has
been mired in conflict since 1991.
The United Nations said that more than 200,000 people had fled their
homes in Mogadishu since early May -- the largest displacement since
Ethiopia's invasion in late 2006.
"For the first time since 1991 several of the districts in the city,
which had so far remained untouched by the conflict, are experiencing
fighting and violence with many residents fleeing their homes for the
first time," it said in a report.
The world body, quoting the Mogadishu-based Elman Peace and Human Rights
Organization, said more than 350 civilians had been killed and 1,500
wounded since early May.
A two-year insurgency -- pitting Islamist groups, local militias,
government's deeply-divided security forces, African Union peacekeepers
and previously Ethiopian troops -- has killed at least 18,000 people,
according to a local rights group.
Source: Reuters, July 17, 2009
|
