French intelligence agents posing as journalists abducted in Somalia
July 15, 2009 Leave a comment
Hotel Sahafi
By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Foreign correspondents in Somalia have joined Reporters Without Borders (RWB) in condemning the alleged journalistic cover of two French intelligence agents, who were kidnapped on Tuesday in Somali capital Mogadishu. RWB director, Jean-Francois Julliard, said that if the allegations that the two French intelligence agents had pretended to be journalists are confirmed, it would be “shocking, because these are official agents on a mission for the French government, who have used the title of journalist as a cover”. In a telling move, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs has refused to identify the two abductees, and has rejected calls to reveal the precise branch of the French government that sent them to Somalia. But the Ministry did admit today that the two Frenchmen were in the African country on “an official mission” to advise President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed’s crumbling Western-backed government in “security matters”. Speaking anonymously to the Agence France Presse news agency, a senior Somali government official revealed that the two abductees arrived in Mogadishu nine days ago in order to train “their counterparts in Somali intelligence agencies”. Read more of this post
intelNews.org 
French spy escapes Somali captors, allegedly killing three
August 27, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment
Hotel Sahafi
By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
One of two French intelligence agents arrested by a Somali militia in July has escaped, after allegedly killing three of his captors. Somali military officer Farhan Asanyo told British newspaper The Daily Mail that the Frenchman approached government soldiers in Mogadishu early yesterday morning, identified himself and said he had escaped. He was then taken to the Presidential Palace in Mogadishu, where he now remains. The French Foreign Ministry has disputed Asanyo’s account, saying that the French intelligence agent escaped without resorting to violence and without a ransom having been paid by Paris. Read more of this post
Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with abductions, Africa, al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab, France, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hezb-ul Islam, Hizbul Islam, Islamic Courts Union, Islamic Party (Somalia), Jean-Francois Julliard, Mogadishu (Somalia), Mohamed Abdi Gandi, News, Sahafi Hotel International, Somali Ministry of the Interior, Somalia, The Party of Youth (Somalia)