Sunday, July 19, 2009
In the past week, Shabab rebels have seized two French security advisers originally captured by a different band of Somali gunmen, and now they are widely suspected of another kidnapping Saturday morning along the Kenya-Somalia border.
"They need money," said one Western diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Kidnapping is one of the few moneymaking industries left in shattered Somalia.
According to a new posting on a Somali insurgent website, the Shabab will soon try the Frenchmen in an Islamic court. And though the Shabab's brand of justice often involves beheading, the website said in this case senior commanders were considering a "fine," a signal that they might be after money more than blood.
Recent events bear that out, analysts say. While Somalia's transitional government recently got a 40-ton pile of guns and ammunition from the United States, the Shabab's outside support might be slowing or even drying up.
Source: New York Times, July 19, 2009