on foreign forces in somalia

june 29: France brings forward training of Somali security forces from September to July

[OSC Translated Text] [Statements by Eric Chevallier, spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, from the ministry's daily briefing with unidentified correspondents at the Foreign Ministry in Paris on 26 June]

France has decided to speed up the implementation of its training programme for Somalian security forces. The training programme will begin in July and not, as initially planned, in September.

[Correspondent] Will the programme be maintained even if the government changes?

[Chevallier] It is programme designed to support the current authorities, whom we regard as legitimate and determined to try to bring peace and stability to Somalia.

[Correspondent] Are you alone in organizing this programme?

[Chevallier] It is a programme decided on by France and which was announced at the meeting in Brussels devoted to Somalia on 23 April. It is a French plan, but we have worked with our European partners to examine the possibility of broadening it and extending it to other European participants who wish to be involved. The French pace is speeding up and we hope that this will encourage European contributions.

[Correspondent] This programme is taking place in Djibouti. Do you have any details on the number of people who will be trained and the size of the French aid?

[Chevallier] The programme consists in training 500 people. Part of the programme will be in place as of July.

[Correspondent] How many French people will be involved in this task?

[Chevallier] That is an operational question which it would be more logical to put to the Ministry of Defence.

Source: French Foreign Ministry website

july 14: Two French Security Advisers Abducted in Somalia

PARIS, July 14 -- Two French security advisers posing as journalists were abducted from their hotel in Mogadishu on Tuesday by Somali gunmen, according to the Foreign Ministry and reports from the chaotic Somali capital.

The Foreign Ministry did not identify the two men or specify which branch of the French government had dispatched them to Somalia. But it said in an announcement that they were in Mogadishu on "an official mission" to assist the Western-backed government of President Sharif Ahmed in "security matters."

A senior official in Ahmed's government told Agence France-Presse, the main French news agency, that the two men had arrived in Mogadishu nine days ago, invited by the Somali Defense Ministry to train "their counterparts in Somali intelligence agencies."

...

The hotel manager, Mohamed Mohamed, told news agencies that the two French abductees registered at the hotel as journalists on their arrival last week. He said a dozen armed men showed up Tuesday morning and, after disarming the hotel guards, searched the hotel door to door until they found their targets and bundled them off.

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France's role in providing security assistance to [TFG2] forces was not widely known in Paris.

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The report that the two kidnapped men had posed as journalists was received with alarm and some puzzlement by media advocacy groups.

"This accusation, while unconfirmed, is troubling," said Robert Mahoney, deputy director of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. "Our position is that intelligence officers posing as journalists jeopardizes the security of all journalists."

In addition, any decision to masquerade as a reporter in Somalia would be perplexing, since Somalia has emerged this year as "the most dangerous country in the world for journalists, outstripping Iraq," according to the committee. Six journalists have been killed in Somalia this year, bringing the toll to 15 since 2007, the committee says.

Gunmen snatch French agents from Mogadishu hotel

MOGADISHU (AFP) — A dozen Somali gunmen wearing government uniforms snatched two French security advisors from their hotel rooms in Mogadishu, officials and witnesses said Tuesday.

The pair was "helping the federal transition government of Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed in security matters," the French foreign ministry said in a statement.

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No group claimed responsibility for the abduction, which took place in unusual circumstances since the gunmen encountered little resistance when they entered the Sahafi hotel where the two were staying.

"More than 10 gunmen on a military vehicle stormed the hotel early this morning. They disarmed the security guards and then went straight for the foreigners' rooms," Mohamed Ali, a police officer, told AFP.

"The incident appears to have been well planned because it occurred in a heavily-guarded area controlled by the Somali government," one member of the hotel staff said.

...

With no known ransom demand and very little official information available, the kidnappers' motives remained unclear.

One official from Somalia's National Security Agency even claimed they were interior ministry forces, suggesting the abduction was the result of dissidence within the government security apparatus.

"Interior ministry militias came to the Sahafi hotel saying they were coming to fetch the French guys to take them to the (presidential) palace," the NSA official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"They knew which room they were in and went straight in. Then they took them in an interior ministry car," he said.

Two foreigners abducted in Mogadishu

Reports say that several gunmen disguised as government security forces snatched the men from the hotel in the south of the city near K4 where the African Union troops (AMISOM) have military bases.

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The abductions took place at the Sahafi Hotel on Tuesday morning in a part of the Somali capital controlled by the transitional government forces.

Gunmen wearing Somali police uniforms turned up at the guest house, seized the men and took them in a vehicle towards a part of the city run by the Islamist forces.

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updated 2009.07.15

latest stories surrounding the kidnapping are basically encapsulated in this reuters article

Islamist rebels holding French hostages

MOGADISHU, July 15 (Reuters) - One of Somalia's militant Islamist rebel groups was holding two French security men on Wednesday after receiving them from abductors linked to the government, police said.

Gunmen from an Islamist faction within President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's security forces seized the two in a Mogadishu hotel on Tuesday, then handed them to Hizbul Islam insurgents, senior police officer Abdiqadir Odweyne told Reuters.

Hizbul Islam was now arguing over the Frenchmen's fate with another militant rebel group, al Shabaab...

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Spokesmen for both groups declined to comment on the case.

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Several French newspapers reported on Wednesday that the two kidnapped Frenchmen were agents for the DGSE, or secret services, and that they had pretended to be journalists.

too many unknowns right now so there are still more questions than answers.

what exactly were the two men doing? providing services right there in mogadishu? gathering intelligence? consulting on training operations in djibouti or elsewhere? recruiting bodies for maintaining the conflict?

if they were training, advising or whatever, who was their client? the TFG2 or AMISOM forces?

the french military participated in the training of AMISOM forces in uganda & burundi before they were deployed to mogadishu. did these two kidnapped men have any role in the battles over the weekend which saw AMISOM openly fighting alongside the rag-tag forces aligned with the TFG2?

it has been reported that the two checked into the hotel nine days ago, which would place them there before & during those battles.

and why were they staying in a public hotel, like sitting ducks, reportedly posing as journalists in a warzone void of melanin-deficient reporters?