Mogadishu - Somali Islamist insurgent group Al-Shabaab Thursday issued a list of demands it says must be met in order to secure the release of a French security advisor held since July. Two French security advisors were seized from their hotel in the lawless capital Mogadishu on July 14, but one of them has since managed to escape.
France must withdraw anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden, stop military and political support for the Western-backed government and withdraw all its security advisors, al-Shabaab said in a statement.
French warships are patrolling Somali waters as part of efforts to curb the piracy that has flourished in the chaos that has engulfed the Horn of Africa nation since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
Al-Shabaab also said France must release "Muslim fighters" - without specifying which fighters and where they were being held - to secure the release of the advisor.
Together with its ally Hizbul Islam, al-Shabaab - which the US says has close links with al-Qaeda - has been battling to remove Western-backed President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
The insurgency kicked off in early 2007 following an Ethiopian invasion and has recently gathered pace.
More than 250,000 people have fled renewed fighting in Mogadishu since May, bringing the total number of displaced within Somalia to over 1.5 million.
More than 18,000 people have died since the insurgency began and over half of the Somali population are now dependent on food aid due to the conflict and drought.
