Kidnapped aid workers are alive
2008-07-24 22:29
Rome - Two Italian aid workers kidnapped in Somalia in May are alive, Italian Foreign Minister Francesco Frattini said on Thursday, the Ansa news agency reported.
The hostages, an Italian man and a woman, along with a Somali colleague were abducted by armed men in Awdhegle, 70km south of Mogadishu, on May 21.
Somali authorities said on May 28 that the hostages were being held by their captors in Mogadishu.
The three worked for the Italian humanitarian group, North-South Italian Cooperation (CINS).
A relative of the Somali hostage said the kidnappers had demanded a ransom and negotiations were taking place.
Rome has given out little information about the abduction.
"We have not spoken to the media in hopes that it will help bring about a quick and positive outcome" to the kidnapping, said Fabrizio Romano, the head of the crisis group at the foreign ministry, according to Ansa.
- AFP