Libyan diplomats freed in Somalia

Officials deny paying a ransom for the two men taken from a Mogadishu market.

Argentine nurse Pilar Bauza Moreno hostage released from Somalia
Pilar Bauza Moreno, right, was one of two people freed in Puntland earlier this week[AFP]
Libya and Sudan are the only countries to have kept a continued, albeit intermittent, diplomatic presence in Somalia throughout the civil strife that has engulfed the nation since Mohamed Siad Barre was forced from power in 1991.

Ransoms

The motive for the abduction was not immediately clear, but Somali criminal gangs have previously demanded large ransoms to free hostages.

However, a Libyan foreign ministry official told the Associated Press news agency that no ransom money was paid. He would not elaborate on what efforts took place and who was involved in negotiating their release.

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On Wednesday, a Spanish doctor and an Argentinian nurse were freed after one week in captivity in Somalia’s breakaway republic of Puntland.
  
Local media reported that their captors had demanded a $365,000 ransom, but the Spanish foreign ministry insisted no money was paid to secure their freedom.

Last month, a French cameraman who was in Puntland to film a documentary on the smuggling of refugees from Somalia across the Gulf of Aden, was also freed after being held for more than a week.

The abduction coincided with the swearing in of 15 new ministers and five deputies by parliament as part of a new cabinet designed to help the interim government build solid institutions before elections due in late 2009.

Source: News Agencies