By MALKHADIR M. MUHUMED and KATHARINE HOURELD
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
The men were abducted from a hotel in Mogadishu on Tuesday after gunmen disarmed the hotel's guards and went door-to-door looking for them, the hotel manager said.
Foreigners rarely go to Mogadishu, which is among the most dangerous cities in the world, and when they do they travel only in convoys with armed guards. Many fear the power vacuum in Somalia will provide a haven for terrorists, as the military and police force are weak and in disarray.
Direct attempts by outsiders to intervene in Somalia have been disastrous in the past.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Gunmen stormed into a hotel in the Somali capital on Tuesday morning and kidnapped two French men who were working for the military, officials said.
The manager of the Sahafi Hotel in Mogadishu said the men had registered as reporters, but a senior Somali government official said they were in Somalia to train government soldiers. A Western security official also confirmed they worked for the military. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
They were abducted after about 10 gunmen arrived at the hotel in a small car and a pickup truck mounted with machine guns and disarmed the hotel guards, said Abdi Mohamed Ahmed, who owns a teashop in front of the hotel. The manager, Mohamed Hassan Gafaa, said several gunmen went door-to-door inside the hotel until they found the foreign men, whom he did not identify.
"The gunmen then sped away with their hostages," Ahmed told The Associated Press.
Police said they found one of the kidnappers' cars several hours after the kidnapping.
The French embassy in Nairobi had no immediate comment.
Foreigners rarely go to Mogadishu, which is among the most dangerous cities in the world, and when they do they travel only in convoys with armed guards.
Various Islamist groups have been fighting the U.N.-backed government since being chased from power 2 1/2 years ago. The situation is complicated by the continual splintering and reforming of alliances and a tangled web of clan loyalties.
The impoverished Horn of Africa nation has not had a functioning government for 18 years. Mogadishu sees near-daily battles between government and insurgent forces. Thousands of civilians have been killed in recent years.
The lawlessness has allowed piracy to flourish off the coast, and kidnappings for ransom on land have also become increasingly common. Many fear the power vacuum there will provide a haven for terrorists, but direct attempts by outsiders to intervene in Somalia have been disastrous in the past.
The U.S. administration — haunted by a disastrous 1993 U.S. military assault into the Somali capital chronicled in "Black Hawk Down" — is carefully working to lower the growing terrorist threat without sending in American troops. The Obama administration recently moved to increase aid to Somalia by pouring resources into the weak government.
Source: AP, July 14, 2009