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Tristan
McConnell in Nairobi and Charles Bremner in Paris
A French military agent described last night how he sneaked past
sleeping guards and walked to freedom after six weeks in the hands of
Islamist extremists in Somalia.
Marc Aubrière slipped away from eight kidnappers during the night. He
then wandered the streets of Mogadishu for five hours before reaching
the presidential palace, which is guarded by government soldiers and
African Union peacekeepers.
Speaking in the Somali capital, Mr Aubrière denied initial reports that
he had killed three of his guards.
He said that his captors had been tired out by their Ramadan fasting.
“I escaped at midnight last night. The guards were very tired and
sleepy. I didn’t kill anyone or injure anyone while escaping,” he said.
“I saw that my cell was not closed properly, so I skipped out without
violence. If I had fired a shot, other guards would have shot me down,”
he said from the African Union base in Mogadishu.
He described how he used the stars to guide him as he dodged armed
bands. “They shot at me. I ran and hid and by luck they missed,” he
said.
A French Foreign Ministry spokesman in Paris denied reports that a
ransom had been paid. “The hostage held by Hizb al-Islam was able to
escape his kidnappers. France did not pay a ransom,” said Eric
Chevallier.
A second hostage, who has not been named, is still being held, said Mr
Chevallier. He did not say whether another party may have been involved
in a ransom payment for the two agents, who were sent by the French
Defense Ministry on a contract to improve the Somali presidential
security service.
A crisis unit in Paris has been working under direct orders from
President Sarkozy to win the release of the pair who, it is widely
assumed in Paris, are special forces officers.
Mr Aubrière said that he was relieved the six-week ordeal was over, but
feared for the safety of his colleauge. “Of course I feel better than
one day ago. Yes I feel very well. I’m happy and I will soon see my
family.”
He added that he had been well treated by his captors but said that he
feared for the safety of his colleague.The French agent was flown out of
Somalia to Nairobi last night on a light French military aircraft. There
was no word on his next movements.
The two military advisers arrived in Mogadishu in early July.
In the early hours of July 14 the Frenchmen were bundled out of the
Sahafi Hotel in central Mogadishu by gunmen and handed over to Islamist
militants. They were split between the two main Somali insurgent groups,
al-Shabaab and Hizb al-Islam, to defuse a row over who would control the
hostages.
Al-Shabaab, which has ordered amputations for theft and stoning to death
for adultery, is regarded as the more hardline of the two groups and
said that the men would be charged with spying and face a trial under
Shariala.
Al-Shabaab is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States
and is thought to have links to al-Qaeda. Its ranks are bolstered by
jihadists from around the world. Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, the leader
of Hizb al-Islam, is also on Washington’s terrorist list. Somalia has
been convulsed by clan and religious fighting since 1991, when its last
functioning government collapsed.
The fighting has been almost non-stop ever since and shows no sign of
ending. Last week Mr Aweys rejected an appeal from Somalia’s President
Sheikh Sharif Ahmed for a ceasefire during Ramadan. Lawlessness and
kidnapping thrives both are rife on land and atsea, with million dollar
pay-offs common. France has in the past deployed paratroopers to free
its kidnapped citizens. In April Florent Lemaçon was killed during a
shoot-out between Somali pirates and French commandos in which four
others — including Mr Lemaçon’s three year-old son — were rescued.
Paris is eager to reinforce its presence in the region, which is backed
by a big military base at Djibouti. It is assumed that President Mr
Sarkozy has ordered special forces to draw up plans for retaliation
against the hostage-takers. French forces killed Somali pirates on land
and captured others after they released a French yacht and its crew in
April last year in return for a ransom.
Earlier this month six aid workers — including two French — were
released after nine months in captivity. A British man kidnapped in
April 2008 is still missing, as are two freelance journalists — a
Canadian woman and an Australian man — seized a year ago, while in July
three foreign aid workers were kidnapped from a Kenyan border town and
taken into Somalia. 18-years of war have killed tens of thousands of
Somalis.
Those Somalis who survive the slaughter face incredible hardship. This
week a report from the United Nations-backed Food Security and Nutrition
Analysis Unitwarned that half the Somali population — around
3.76-million people — was in need of humanitarian aid as fighting
worsened the effects of a long-running drought.
In the hit-and-run battles that characterize the conflict in Somalia
pro-government militias have made some fleeting gains in recent weeks.
Moderate Sufis opposed to al Shabaab’s hardline Wahabi interpretation of
Islam have taken up arms under the banner of Ahlu Sunna Wal-Jamaaca and
briefly took control of a couple of southern towns in August. Government
forces have also had some success in beating back the insurgents with
the help of a strengthened AU peacekeeping force nownumbering over
5,000.
Source: The Times, August 27, 2009
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