Somali Elder: Kidnapped Reporter OK

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A Somali clan elder has met with a French journalist being held by kidnappers who have increased their ransom demand to $1 million, the elder said Wednesday.

Cameraman Gwen Le Gouil was kidnapped Sunday outside Bossaso in semiautonomous Puntland, a northern region that is removed from the ferocious Islamic insurgency in the country's south. In recent months, however, Puntland has become associated with piracy off its coast.

"I met with the kidnapped reporter," said elder Mohamed Said. "He told me that he was safe and was treated well."

The kidnappers were demanding a $1 million ransom, according to Said. The figure is a significant increase over the $70,000 that they reportedly were demanding earlier this week.
The kidnapping highlighted the widespread insecurity in Somalia, which the United Nations says is facing Africa's worst humanitarian crisis. Bossaso is about 900 miles north of Mogadishu, which is at the center of the insurgency.

Ethiopia, with tacit U.S. approval, sent soldiers to Somalia last year to wipe out the Council of Islamic Courts, but they soon launched a ferocious insurgency. A local aid group said some 6,000 civilians have died this year alone, caught in the crossfire of mortar attacks, suicide bombings and street battles.

Source: AP