Thursday, March 26, 2009

Somalia: Kidnappers Demand Ransom For Kenyan Officials

Witnesses initially said the five were snatched Wednesday in the Mandera region on the Kenyan side of the border but officials said Thursday that they had crossed into neighboring southern Somalia when they were kidnapped.

"They have not stated any amount yet, but they have insisted they want money," a police official told AFP, quoting information received by emissaries dispatched to the area to secure a release.

Two prominent elders from the Mandera region, inhabited mainly by Somali-ethnic Kenyans, were sent across the border to mediate with the Islamist administration in the village of Bulohawo, where the group is being held. "The five had crossed the border from Mandera town to go to the border village of Bulohawo inside Somalia for shopping," Kenyan police chief Mohammed Hussein Ali said in a statement.

Kenya's national police spokesman, Eric Kiraithe, said efforts were underway to secure a swift release before the kidnappers take their hostages deeper inside war-torn Somalia.

"This is a dangerous group and that is why we want the negotiations to bear fruit before they decide to go with them deeper into their country. We don't want it to take long," he said.

Most of southern Somalia is ruled by the hardline Islamist group Shebab and its allies. The group recently warned Kenya to refrain from interfering in Somalian affairs or face attacks on its own soil.

Kenya has repeatedly expressed concern that the rise of a hardline Islamist administration in the southern port city of Kismayo and surrounding areas risked having negative repercussions on security within its borders.

Source: AFP

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