N.O.R.F Posted January 6, 2008 Somali gunmen briefly kidnap Libyan diplomats By Abdi Sheikh and Aweys Yusuf MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali gunmen seized the acting Libyan ambassador and a colleague while they shopped in Mogadishu's busy Bakara market on Saturday but freed them hours later, embassy staff said. The brief kidnapping coincided with the swearing in of 15 new ministers and five deputies by parliament as part of a new cabinet designed to help the interim government build solid institutions before elections due in late 2009. Kidnapping was already common in Somalia before a year-long insurgency pitting an Islamic Courts group against the government and its Ethiopian military backers broke out, triggering fighting that has killed at least 6,500 people. Ten men armed with pistols grabbed acting Ambassador Naji Ahmed Subeyr and his chief of staff Fatahi Mohamed Mustafa as they shopped in the market, according to embassy officials. "We were captured and then released by Islamic Courts youth," Subeyr told Reuters at his embassy in Mogadishu. "They freed us after we told them we were Libyans ... They treated us well, and handed us to Bakara businessmen to take us home safely." Bakara, the seaside Somali capital's biggest market, is a hotbed of insurgents fighting the Somali interim government and its Ethiopian military backers. Continued... Indeed Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jacaylbaro Posted January 6, 2008 Somali gunmen seized the acting Libyan ambassador and a colleague AMBASSADOR ??????? ! ! ! ! ! ! :confused: :confused: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
