French journo 'feels misery'
2007-12-24 18:16
Mogadishu - A French journalist abducted by Somali gunmen said he feels "misery and lack of freedom" but hopes to be released soon, according to a radio report.
Cameraman Gwen Le Gouil was seized on December 16 outside the town of Bossaso in Puntland, an area associated with coastal piracy and known as a staging post for human traffickers running boats into Yemen.
On Sunday night, Mogadishu-based HornAfrik Radio said it spoke to Le Gouil by telephone in an interview facilitated by the kidnappers. It could not be independently confirmed that Le Gouil was the man on the call.
"My message to my family, relatives and all those who are worrying about me, is to be patient because I hope I will be freed soon," Le Gouil said, according to the report. He added that his daily meals are rice and potatoes.
When asked about his health, he said: "All I know is that I feel misery and lack of freedom."
The area where the reporter was kidnapped is about 1 500km north of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, which is at the center of an Islamic insurgency that has killed thousands of people this year. The United Nations says Somalia is facing Africa's worst humanitarian crisis.
Ethiopia, with tacit US approval, sent soldiers to Somalia last year to wipe out an Islamic group that had seized control of the capital and much of the southern part of the country, but members of the Islamic group soon launched an insurgency with the support of Ethiopia's archenemy, Eritrea.
The arid Horn of Africa nation has had no functioning national government since 1991, when clan leaders overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other. The conflict between the UN-backed transitional government which is seen by many Somalis as corrupt and ineffective and the Islamic radicals is complicated by a web of clan loyalties.
- AP