June 8, 2010 - Daily Star - Somali rebels to release message from French hostage

Somali rebels to release message from French hostage - SITE

WASHINGTON: Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-inspired Al-Shebaab rebels were to release a message from a French security adviser who was kidnapped 11 months ago, the SITE monitoring service reported Sunday.
The Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) said they would issue a message on behalf of Al-Shebaab to the people of France from the adviser, SITE said.
The GIMF did not give a time for when the message would be released, it said.
The last public announcement on the advisor’s situation came in September 2009 when the rebels issued a set of demands to the French government, asking for the immediate end to any political and military support for the “apostate government of Somalia” and withdrawal of French personnel and advisers from the country.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner rejected the demands and pledged support for the troubled government in Mogadishu. Two French agents were captured by Islamists in Mogadishu on July 14.
One of them, held by the more political Hizbul Islam group, escaped last month and returned to France.
For the release of the second, Al-Shebaab demanded the release of “mujahideen prisoners” in return.
According to Al-Shebaab, the French agent came to Somalia “to collect intelligence for the French government” in support of foreign “forces of the crusade” in Somalia.”
The term was thought to refer to the African Union forces currently comprising some 5,000 troops from Uganda and Burundi.
Somalia has been plagued by internal unrest for years, with the strongest hardline groups waging a bloody offensive against forces loyal to the transitional government. – AFP