Kidnappers want a swap

2008-10-10 14:30

Mogadishu - A Somali group that kidnapped a Japanese doctor and a Dutch nurse from Ethiopia last month said on Friday they would free their hostages if Ethiopia released Somali prisoners.

"We are Somali fighters who snatched those foreigners from inside Ethiopia. We are demanding Ethiopia release our people inside the Ethiopian prisons," Qulan Farah, a spokesperson for the kidnappers, said by phone.

"Ethiopia arrested many Somalis inside Somalia and in Ethiopia as well. So in reprisal for these arrests, we are taking this Japanese woman and this Dutch man working for a French organisation hostage," he added.

A Japanese female doctor and a Dutch male nurse working for French medical charity Medecins du Monde, were kidnapped on September 22 from Fadhigaradle village, in Ethiopia, as they were visiting drought-stricken areas.

They were later moved across the porous border with Somalia.

Farah handed over the phone to the two hostages, who said they had been moved to an undisclosed location in the Somali capital Mogadishu and added they were in good health.

"We are fine, we are getting food, water and everything. We have been kidnapped from inside Ethiopia but now we are in Mogadishu," the Japanese doctor said.

"I'm a nurse with the French organisation Medecins du Monde. We are feeling very tense for the time being but we are physically OK," the Dutch national said.

"They (the kidnappers) did not ask us anything, we don't know what they are demanding," he added.

Armed Somali gangs have carried out scores of kidnappings in recent months, often targeting either foreigners or Somalis working with international organisations to demand ransoms.

Farah did not demand a ransom however, only the release of Somalis held in Ethiopian prisons.

Ethiopian government forces have carried out devastating military operations in the Ogaden, a large southeastern region populated by ethnic Somalis where groups have been fighting for independence.

The main secessionist group in Ethiopia's Somali region, the Ogaden National Liberation Front, has condemned the kidnapping.

- AFP