French Security Consultants - Somalian Kidnap

Earlier this week, two French security consultants were kidnapped in Somalia by groups with links to Al Qaeda.  The men are reported to have been split up and are being held by two seperate groups.

Somalia has been operating without an effective government since the early nineties and is an area of high conflict.  The two men were seized from their hotel in the capital Mogadishu and are now been held by the Hizbul Islam and Al Shabab groups.  The latter group have been invovled in several hostage situations and have been known to behead their captives.

The groups have significant influence in the south of the country.  However, typically in Somalia, kidnap is more about ransom than politics.  A particular concern in this case is that the French government have been supportive of the interim government of Somalia and the hostages may be used to expressly make a political point rather than raise a ransom.  The French consultants were involved in training government forces in tackling the islamist extremist groups.

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