Foreign hostages freed in Mogadishu

Two aid workers held hostage in Mogadishu since 26 July were freed on Monday. Francoise Deutsch, a French administrator, and Jonathan Ward, a British logistician working for the Paris-based NGO Action contre la faim (ACF), had been held by militiamen allied to one of the Mogadishu faction leaders, Uthman Ali Ato. In a press release issued late on Monday, ACF paid tribute to “responsible Somalis” who had worked on securing the release of the aid workers. The organisation said it thanked “in particular the new president Abdiqasim Salad Hasan”, as well as members of Somalia’s civil society, “who did not cease in their efforts to try and make the kidnappers see reason”.

ACF emphasised that it had not paid any ransom to obtain the release - despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of dollars had been demanded by the militiamen. But the organisation also expressed concern over the security situation in Mogadishu, saying it made it extremely difficult to carry out necessary humanitarian work.