Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Paris — A Frenchman detained in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region is not a spy as claimed by local authorities, France's foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
The Frenchman and a Briton have been held since last Thursday, foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said.
"We are working with the British to provide them with consular protection and to obtain their release as quickly as possible," he said.
"He is not a spy," Nadal said, referring to the French national, who he said was a corporate employee.
Puntland Security minister Kalif Ise Mudan said on Monday that the two men were spies "who entered the country while disguised as NGO workers."
A statement from Puntland's government, carried by the Garoweonline.com news website, said the pair were "illegally gathering classified information on public and private institutions in Puntland" and "sharing this information with foreign entities."
A source close to the case said the two men worked for Oversight International, a consultancy services company registered in Puntland which specialised in security issues.
Somalia has been without a strong central government since the fall of the regime of president Siad Barre in 1991.
Puntland, situated on the Horn of Africa in Somalia's northeast, declared full autonomy in 1998, but has stopped short of declaring full independence like its neighbouring region Somaliland.