5 September 2001
A member of Somalia's Transitional National Assembly (TNA) kidnapped on 13 June has been released unharmed by his abductors.
Humanitarian sources told IRIN that Muhammad Abdi Gas was released by his kidnappers on 2 September, who at the time claimed that the MP owed them money. The MP was reportedly freed with the help of Mogadishu faction leader Usman Hasan Ali Ato, the source said. "Ato intervened, otherwise, he would not have been freed," local sources told IRIN. The kidnapping was at the time blamed on Ato's supporters.
The local and international media have reported recent talks between Ato and the interim government. Ato has also twice met interim president, Abdiqassim Salad Hassan. The status of the talks may have played a part in Ato's intervention, local sources said.
Muhammad Abdi Gas, from northwestern Somalia, is the second MP to have been kidnapped since the interim government established itself in Mogadishu last October. Abdirahman Ali Du'ale, also from the northwest, was kidnapped last January, and is still in captivity in north Mogadishu, sources told IRIN on Monday.
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