French Agent Marc Aubrière escapes from Captors

News from Somalia were today dominated by the lucky escape of a French man, Marc Aubrière, from his captors of Hezb al-Islam.

“I am doing well, even if my month-and-a-half detention was terribly long,” said the French intelligence agent from the African Union Forces' base in Mogadishu.

He told RFI: “Tuesday night around midnight I took advantage of my jailers being asleep and tired from Ramadan. I saw my cell was not closed properly, so I took off without violence,” and said: “I walked at night for almost five hours guided by the stars, to get back to the area that I was looking for,” he said of finding safety.

“Mogadishu is deserted at night, and the only people you cross are armed. I was shot at, I ran, I hid and luckily they missed.”

Surprised government soldiers at first mistook the bearded, shaggy-haired stranger as a foreign fighter, and held him at the edge of the compound for nearly an hour before realizing he was an escaped hostage, according to Mohamed Sheik, head of Somalia's intelligence agency.

While the TFG Information minister Dahir Mohamud Gelle got entangled in mixing up if one or two French hostages were released, the best account in our opinion was given by Mr. Aubrière himself in an interview with Jeffry Gettleman for the New York Times.

Gettleman, who incidentally had flown into Mogadishu this morning was so close to the scene that others even reported to the outside world that the French agent had been freed together with a journalist, stirring up activities, because Australian photographer Nigel Brennan, 36, and Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout, 28, are still held hostage in Mogadishu since one year.

Residents in Mogadishu say al-Shabab fighters have been searching vehicles Wednesday at various checkpoints set up in areas under their control, which had led to speculation that the second French hostage may also have escaped or has been set free without authorization.

Though several Government sources had stated that the release of the French man working as security adviser was a success of the Somali intelligence service and many claim that a ransom of between US$2 and 4 million had been prepared or was already paid to Hesb al-Islam, while rumours even spoke of up to three of his guards the French agent had killed during his escape, insiders know that he was "up for sale" and back in Mogadishu already since more than a week.

A Hisbul Islam spokesman, Mohamed Osman Aruus, accoding to VOA, denied that anyone in his group had received a ransom.

“The hostage held by Hezb al-Islam was able to escape his kidnappers. Despite certain allegations and rumours this happened without violence and France did not pay a ransom,” French
Government spokesman Eric Chevallier told reporters.

It was initially reported that the pair were journalists, but the French Foreign Ministry later confirmed that they had been working with the federal transition government on “security matters”.

Unfortunately Chevallier also had to confirm that the second of the two hostages, French government agents kidnapped on July 14 from their Mogadishu hotel during a mission to train Somali forces, was “still being held”. It is said that this man is held by an al-Shabab group.

Al-Shebab had said earlier the men would be tried under Sharia Law, and it was also suggested that they might have been held in return for the release of Somali pirates jailed in France.

Mr Aubriere's escape certainly will put more stress on the captors of his colleague and could jeopardize his unharmed safety.

The French intelligence officer, however, stated that he was treated very well during captivity and hopes that those holding the second French hostage as well as all other hostages show likewise their humanity.

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