MSN Friday, December 23, 2011
Cleared of piracy after French troops snatched him from African waters
three years ago, Somali fisherman Abdulahi Ahmed Guelleh now faces
possibly his toughest experience yet: life alone in Paris.
A French court on November 30
jailed five of his compatriots for between four and eight years for
taking a French couple hostage on their yacht off the coast of Somalia
in 2008, but cleared the 36-year-old of all charges.
The court
believed his story that he had simply been in the wrong place at the
wrong time and ordered his release, but Guelleh at first refused to go.
"He
was afraid of everything," said Yusuf Khawaje, who was his interpreter
during the trial for seizing the yacht and demanding a $2 million (1.3
million euro) ransom.
The ransom was never paid and the six men
were captured and flown to France after French special forces stormed
the yacht, rescued the couple and killed a seventh suspect.
"It's
blocked," Guelleh, who has a seven-year-old son, said when asked about
his future after prosecutors called for a retrial, saying the original
sentences were too lenient.
The prison asked interpreter Khawaje
to collect Guelleh when he was released with just 600 euros ($780) in
his pocket from work he had done inside.
The fisherman found a
small hotel room in Chatillon, south of Paris, from where Khawaje
introduced him to the concept of traffic lights and other European
peculiarities.
But with the hotel costing 35 euros a night, the fisherman's money soon ran out.
"I
said to myself we have to do something," said local councillor
Francoise Montseny, who read about the Somali's predicament in the
press.
Aid group Secours Catholique then offered to lodge Guelleh
for a month and the fisherman, wearing blue jeans, trainers and a black
anorak, slung his bag on his shoulder and walked to a nearby social
housing hotel.
"It's bigger, better," Khawaje said of the new room, complete with fridge, sink, hot plates and orange curtains.
"If
you need something, come and see me," said a friendly receptionist,
Max. Secours Catholique worker Jean-Claude said he would bring him some
cooking pans.
Guelleh is then taken to a branch of the Restos du Coeur charity that hands out meals to the needy and homeless.
As
they wait for Guelleh to be signed up, Khawaje explains that the
portrait of a jovial and rotund man hanging in the main room is of
Coluche, the French comedian who set up the charity in 1985.
"We'll
look after him," said one of the charity's workers, touched by the
story of the young man who says "thank you, thank you very much," in
broken French as he heads off with a bag full of food and toiletries.
The next day the beleaguered fisherman went to the town hall to fill out an application for asylum.
Now,
Guelleh can "start to fly with his own wings," said Khawaje as the
fisherman headed off alone for the first time to Paris' Gare du Nord
train station to meet some compatriots.
On another day, a Secours
Catholique worker took him to visit the world-famous Avenue des Champs
Elysees, from where he returns with a postcard memento.
"The fact
that he's being helped is giving him faith in France," said Khawaje,
with Guelleh insisting he cannot return to Somalia where his life is
threatened.