19 June 2001
Two kidnapped members of the Transitional National Assembly (TNA) are still being held for unpaid debts, sources in Mogadishu told IRIN. Muhammad Abdi Gas, a TNA member from the northwest, who was kidnapped on 13 June, was still being held by his captors, who say his debt relates to livestock exported to the Gulf states on their behalf by one of his relatives, the source said. Muhammad Abdi is reportedly being held in south Mogadishu by militia loyal to Mogadishu faction leader Usman Hasan Ali Ato.
The second TNA member, Abdirahman Du'ale Ali, also from the northwest, was kidnapped in January, and is still being held in north Mogadishu. He was accused of failing to reimburse kat (Catha edulis) traders who lent him money while he was a member of the administrations successively set up by faction leader Ali Mahdi Muhammad and his rival General Muhammad Farah Aydid in the early 1990s, sources told IRIN. Du'ale reportedly acknowledges the debt, but insists it should be paid by Ali Mahdi Muhammad, who is now also a member of the TNA.
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