'Kidnappers treated me well'
2008-02-13 20:16
Hargeisa - A German aid worker kidnapped in northwestern Somalia was freed after local security forces fought off the gunmen who seized him, his employer and a Somali official said on Wednesday.
Deutsche Welthungerhilfe, also known as the German Agro Action, said its employee, Daniel Bronkal, was freed on Tuesday evening. Shots were fired during the release operation, but Bronkal was not hurt, and the kidnappers fled.
"I was treated very well by the kidnappers. There was enough to eat and to drink, and they did neither threaten me, nor beat me," the organisation quoted Bronkal as saying.
The aid worker was taken during a car ambush early on Tuesday in Era Gabo, a town in the breakaway republic of Somaliland.
The enclave's Interior Minister Abdillahi Ismail Ali said security forces freed the kidnapped man after fighting off six gunmen who had abducted him.
"The government of Somaliland will not at any time negotiate with terrorists who commit such acts. This is part of our policy," Ali said.
Kidnapping of aid workers and foreigners is common in Somalia, but captives are generally treated well - since they are usually held for ransom. Authorities generally blame militant Islamists for attacks on foreigners.
The attack occurred in Sanag region, a disputed area that Somaliland and neighbouring semi-autonomous Puntland have long fought over.
Although Somaliland and Puntland have enjoyed relative peace compared to southern Somalia where the interim government is fighting an Islamist insurgency, the north has increasingly become associated with kidnappings for ransom.
Somaliland broke away in 1991 when warlords toppled military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre plunging the Horn of Africa country into anarchy. It has governed itself since, but its claim of independence has not been internationally recognised.