Gunmen in the Somali capital kidnapped Minister of
State for Tourism, Ahmed Mohamed Nur ”Alliyow”, on Wednesday and demanded a $10 000 ransom, his relatives said.
Alliyow, a minister in the disputed Transitional National Government (TNG), is a member of the Rahanwein clan, a minority group in Mogadishu.
He was captured in south Mogadishu and relatives accused some of his bodyguards of having conspired with the kidnappers.
”He has now been brought to north Mogadishu after gunmen who abducted him (in south Mogadishu) made a deal with freelance gunmen in north Mogadishu,” one of the relatives, who asked not to be named for safety reasons, said.
The relatives said the TNG did not have the ability to rescue Alliyow and that they were too poor to raise the ransom.
Kidnapping for ransom is common in Somalia, which has had no effective national government and has been riven by factional feuding since the collapse of the administration of former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
Expatriate aid workers are frequently targeted for abduction, but members of less influential Somalia communities often become victims.
The TNG, which came into being August 2000, has failed to end a decade of anarchy in Somalia and only enjoys control of parts of Mogadishu and support from some factions in other parts of the country.
The government faces armed opposition from a group of warlords whose alliance, the Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC), has its headquarters in neighbouring Ethiopia.
The SRRC is not thought to be involved in Alliyow’s abduction.
On April 7, the president of TNG military court, Ali Mumin, was kidnapped for three weeks and released after his relatives reportedly paid a $4 000 ransom. – Sapa-AFP