French agents face sharia trial in Somalia

[rudy-Diiriye]

This will be a very interesting scenario. I see a french rescue attempt coming soon. However, it looks like finally solution will be a swap for the somali prisoners in france... A very interesting article indeed that will capture world attention for days.

 

by Mustafa Haji Abdinur Mustafa Haji Abdinur – 26 mins ago

MOGADISHU (AFP) – Two French agents kidnapped in Somalia will be tried soon under Islamic Sharia law for aiding "the enemies of Allah", an official of the hardline Shebab rebel group holding them said Saturday.

 

Earlier three foreign aid workers were reported kidnapped overnight in a Kenyan town close to the Somali border by armed men who took them into Somalia.

 

The French agents "were caught assisting the apostate government and their spies, so that they will soon be tried and punished under the Sharia law, they will face the justice court for spying and entering Somalia to assist the enemy of Allah," a senior Shebab officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.

 

"The decision about their fate will depend on the outcome of the Islamic court that will hear the charges against them," he added.

 

The two agents, in Somalia to train the forces of the beleaguered transitional government, were snatched at gunpoint from their hotel in central Mogadishu early Tuesday.

 

On Friday Somalia's Social Affairs Minister Mohammed Ali Ibrahim told a French news channel they were being held by Shebab, who he said may be seeking the freedom of Somali pirates jailed in France.

 

"Both are with the Shebab. As long as they're with the Shebab negotiations will be hard," he said.

 

"The demands are not clear. The main reason for the kidnapping is that certain Shebab have associates imprisoned in France, pirates."

 

French President Nicholas Sarkozy's chief of staff Claude Gueant said Friday Paris did not believe the men were in imminent danger, and had probably been held for ransom.

 

"We're heading into tortuous bargaining for their freedom, and it could take a while," he warned.

 

Fifteen Somali pirates are being held in France after being captured by the French navy in the Gulf of Aden. They are accused of taking part in the hijacking of two French yachts.

 

Earlier Saturday a Somali government official said three foreign aid workers were kidnapped overnight in Mandera, a Kenyan town close to the Somali border, by armed men who took them into Somalia.

 

"We are investigating the incident by tracing the kidnappers," Sheikh Adan Mohamed, a senior official in the neighbouring Somali town of Bulohawo, told AFP by telephone.

 

The nationalities of the three and the organisation for which they worked were not immediately known.

 

"There was an incident and three foreigners were taken away," a Kenyan security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

 

"There was a shootout at their office which was raided by gunmen and they shot a night guard in the head," the official said. "In the process, they took away three people. The people have crossed the border."

 

Foreigners are regularly kidnapped in Somalia, which has been mired in civil war since 1991, and usually freed in return for a ransom. Journalists and aid workers are particularly targeted.

 

Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout and Australian photographer Nigel Geoffrey Brennan, who were snatched on August 23 last year, are still being held by their abductors.

 

Four European employees of the French non-governmental aid organisation Action Contre la Faim (Action Against Hunger) and their two Kenyan pilots, kidnapped in early November, are also still being held.

 

Meanwhile Somali pirates on Saturday said they had released a German ship and its crew after being paid a ransom of 1.8 million dollars (1.3 million euros).

 

In Berlin the German foreign ministry confirmed the release and identified the ship as the MV Victoria, flying the Antigua and Barbuda flag, which was captured on May 5 with 11 men on board south of Yemen on its way to the Saudi Red Sea port of Jeddah.

 

Media reports in Berlin said the crew was Romanian.

 

Pirates attacked more than 130 merchant ships off Somalia last year, a rise of more than 200 percent on 2007, according to the Kuala Lumpur-based International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre.

 

The world's naval powers have deployed dozens of warships to the lawless waters off Somalia over the past year in a bid to curb attacks on one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes.

 

http://news.yahoo.co m/s/afp/20090718/wl_ africa_afp/somalia_2 0090718132601

[Abwaan]

And who knows what the French are planning to do!