SOMALIA: ABGAL SUBCLAN REBELS RELEASE 10 HOSTAGES UPDATE

Описание: (24 Apr 1998) English/Nat

The eight Red Cross workers and two pilots taken hostage in Somalia 10 days ago are now free and on their way to Nairobi.

Abgal subclan members kidnapped the aid workers at gunpoint after they landed at an airstrip in Northern Mogadishu last Wednesday.

The multi-national aid workers looked shaken but in good health when they greeted their colleagues at a Red Cross hospital in Mogadishu on Friday.

Eight Red Cross workers and two pilots held hostage for 10 days in Somalia were freed on Friday, despite last-minute bickering among their kidnappers.

The nine men and one woman were hustled into a jeep early on Friday morning and driven at high speed to a Red Cross hospital in northern Mogadishu.

A small crowd gathered outside the hospital, awaiting their arrival.

When the truck carrying the multi-national aid crew arrived, friends and colleagues looked relieved to see them in good shape.

They were escorted by a Red Cross negotiator who had settled last-minute objections to the release by some of the kidnappers.

The captors had demanded up to one (m) million dollars in ransom money.

The hostages included a naturalised American Somali - identified as Ibrahim Ahmad - two Swiss, a Norwegian, a German, a Belgian, a French nurse and a Somali.

The pilots are Kenyan and South African.

The Red Cross said it wanted to get the 10 former hostages to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, as quickly as possible to ensure their continued safety.

There have been conflicting reports about the captors' demands, but a Nairobi-based diplomat monitoring the kidnapping said elders from the Abgal subclan, which controls north Mogadishu, had been pressing for their release.

Later on Friday, guards patrolled the area outside the gates of Kasani Hospital in Mogadishu, where the former hostages were taken.

Mohamed Hussein Aideed, a Somali leader involved in the negotiations, visited the hostages at the hospital before they left for the airport, en route to Kenya.

He said Somali leaders would remember the past 10 days because the groups demanding the hostages' release had allowed local leaders do the negotiating.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We thank them for their support during our negotiations to give us a chance for unconditional release for the hostages, which we succeeded (in doing), and the community of Somali leaders who have played a great role in representing the Somali society to release the hostages. And we think these ten days we will unfortunately remember. And I thank the international community for understanding our problems. Thank you very much."
SUPER CAPTION: Mohamed Hussein Aideed, South Mogadishu faction leader

A Somali advisor in Nairobi said the Abgal subclan staged the abduction because it was unhappy with the distribution of international aid.

Later on Friday, an armed convoy took the hostages from Kasani Hospital to Mogadishu airport, where they boarded a flight to Nairobi.

The Red Cross says the hostages will be debriefed and undergo any necessary medical treatment when they reach the Kenyan capital.

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