KENYA: Somali kidnappers free six foreigners

Record ID: 361195

  • Title: KENYA: Somali kidnappers free six foreigners
  • Date: 13th August 2009
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF KENYAN PILOT'S FAMILY TALKING TO EACH OTHER
  • Embargoed: 28th August 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Reuters ID: LVADKULCURJP0U7ENE1KA4AXNCTK
  • Story Text: Six foreigners freed from nine months of captivity in Somalia arrive in Kenyan capital Nairobi.
    Six foreigners freed from nine months of captivity in Somalia arrived in Kenyan capital Nairobi on Tuesday (August 11).
    The six -- two Kenyans, two French, a Bulgarian and a Belgian -- did not speak to reporters waiting for them at the airport.
    But one of the relatives of the freed hostages denied reports of ransom having been paid for the release.
    "No, no, no, the Kenyan government can never do that. They cant do that .It was pure negotiations and they have finally been released. They realised they were not going to get any money from the Kenyan people or from the Kenyan government or from the French government but all they did, they listened and got touched in their hearts. So they released," said James Kamore, father of one of two Kenyan hostages.
    Earlier, local elder Farah Hussein told Reuters by phone from Gurael in central Somalia that 3 million U.S. dollars were paid as ransom.
    French President Nicolas Sarkozy welcomed the release.
    "The president is overjoyed and very relieved over the announcement that four members of the NGO "Action Contre la Faim", have been freed after being held hostage in Somalia for nine months," a statement from the presidency said.
    The statement said that Sarkozy had reaffirmed his determination to fight against such acts with international partners.
    Somalia is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for aid workers, who have been the targets of assassinations and kidnappings during a two-year insurgency led by Islamist militants against the government and foreign backers.
    But captives are rarely harmed and are usually and set free once a ransom is paid.
    Four of the foreigners were aid workers with Action Contre La Faim (Action Against Hunger), and two were the Kenyan pilots who flew them to an airstrip in central Somalia where they were kidnapped by armed men in three battle wagons and three small cars.
    President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a moderate Islamist elected earlier this year in the 15th attempt to form a central government, is struggling to deal with various insurgent groups who control swathes of territory.
    More than a million Somalis have been uprooted from their homes and a third of the population depends on food aid, since the fighting.
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