A Somali Islamist group has handed over one of two French hostages to al Qaeda-linked al Shaabab militants to avoid clashes between the two insurgent groups, rebels and police said today.
Gunmen from an Islamist faction within President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed’s security forces seized the two in a Mogadishu hotel earlier this week, then handed them to Hizbul Islam insurgents.
But al Shabaab which is also fighting the Somali government demanded that Hizbul Islam give the French security men to them.
“We shared the two men to avoid clashes between Islamists,” an al Shabaab official told Reuters by telephone.
Senior police officer Abdiqadir Odweyne confirmed Hizbul Islam had capitulated to al Shabaab’s pressure and handed over the senior of the two French security officials.
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 higher ranking French official was taken by al Shaabab and the other remained with Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys,” he said, referring to the head of Hizbul Islam.
Earlier in the day, al Shaabab fighters had surrounded Aweys’ house, where the two Frenchmen were being held, and threatened to storm it, witnesses said.
A Somali government official and some media had said the two kidnapped Frenchmen were posing as journalists. But Paris has denied that, saying they were on official government business.
With the rebels battling government troops on a daily basis, Mogadishu is one of the most dangerous cities in the world and has a history of kidnappings of foreigners, mainly aid workers and journalists.
In the past, hostages have normally been released after days or weeks in captivity for substantial ransom payments.
