Faction leader: Somalia hostages to be released

The hostages being held at gunpoint

April 20, 1998
Web posted at: 1:38 p.m. EDT (1738 GMT)

MOGADISHU, Somalia (CNN) -- Eight Red Cross workers and two pilots held for six days by gunmen will be released Monday, the spokesman for a major faction leader in Somalia said.

According to Abdulatif Afdub, faction leader Mohamed Hussein Aidid told him to charter an aircraft to pick up the 10 captives and return them to Nairobi, Kenya. He did not have details on where or when the hostages -- whom he called "aid workers impeded in Somalia" -- would be released from their captors.

Red Cross spokesman Josue Anselmo said he was aware of Afdub's statement but could not confirm it.

The hostages were seized at gunpoint shortly after their flight arrived in Mogadishu on Wednesday. The group is made up of a German agricultural specialist, two Swiss, a Belgian, a French nurse, a Somali, a Norwegian, a naturalized American Somali and South African and Kenyan pilots. All work either for the Red Cross or the Red Crescent relief agencies.

Somali gunmen were demanding a $100,000 ransom.

Hostages reportedly in good shape, but fears remain

Reports say the hostages are in good shape and are receiving three cooked meals a day. They've also received family parcels of clothes, games and magazines sent by their spouses, as well as basic medical supplies.

Nonetheless, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Monday it was extremely concerned about their safety after television pictures showed one of them being threatened by a firearm.

"The situation in the field is extremely serious. The lives of our colleagues are in danger," Red Cross spokesman Michael Kleiner said.

Aidid's stronghold is in south Mogadishu, but he has little authority in the northern part of the devastated city, where it was thought the hostages were being held.

Much of the northern region is controlled by the Abgal militia group headed by Ali Mahdi Mohamed; the incident was believed to be a grave embarrassment to Ali Mahdi, since it appeared the aid workers were seized by an Abgal sub-clan not under his immediate control.

The hostages reportedly remain in good condition

Hostages held as faction leaders advocate peace

The hostage-taking coincided with declarations in Nairobi by former enemies Aidid and Ali Mahdi that they had put their violent differences behind them and sought financial support for a national reconciliation conference in the southern Somali town of Baidoa on May 15.

Aidid and Ali Mahdi were in Kenya earlier this month to try to drum up support for the Egyptian-backed peace deal, which they have said they are ready to implement. It is opposed by other major clans in the rest of Somalia.

They had also signed a peace treaty in December, along with several dozen other faction leaders, to bring an end to the anarchy that has ruled Somalia since armed clans overthrew dictator Siad Barre in 1991. Since Barre's ouster, the country has fractured into an amalgam of clan-based fiefdoms.

Unconfirmed reports indicated the kidnappers could be trying to use the captives as bargaining chips in talks among faction leaders to decide who will be Mogadishu's first postwar governor. Several groups within the Abgal subclan are vying for the post.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related story:

• Young photographer exposed Somalia's horrors - December 7, 1997

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• International Committee of the Red Cross

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