French hostages
July 19, 2009
"We have clearly let it be known to the group we believe is holding our two compatriots that we would be ready to talk with them, and we are waiting for a reply," Claude Gueant told Europe 1 radio on Sunday.
He said that while messages were being exchanged with the group - which has been identified as the al-Shabab militia - face-to-face "contact has not been established."
Gueant said the French government had been informed that the two men, described as "advisors" in security matters, were still alive. "We think they are being well treated," he said.
The overture comes as Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke said Sunday his government had not ruled out measures such as letting France send commandos into the Horn of Africa nation to rescue the two hostages.
"Every option is on the table, and nothing will be ruled out … we have not so far received any kind of ransom demand, and whatever it takes us we are working to release the men," Sharmarke said when questioned on whether his government would allow a French rescue mission.
The two men were abducted by armed men from their hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Monday, July 14, the French national holiday.
Some French media have reported that the kidnapping may have been carried out as revenge for French military activities against pirates working off the Somali coast, and that the kidnappers may want to exchange the two men for pirates being held in France.
The interim Somali government is struggling in a broader campaign to outmanoeuvre Islamist insurgent groups, which have seized control of parts of the country.
dfm/dpa/AFP/Reuters
Editor: Andreas Illmer