Abducted Somali Woman Minister Under House Arrest
Somalia's newly-appointed women's minister is under house arrest after being abducted by Islamist insurgents, family members said on Friday.
Gunmen seized 32-year-old Asha Osman Aqiil on Thursday in Balad, a town north of the capital Mogadishu, a day after she was named the country's minister for women and family affairs.
Al-Qaida-inspired Shebab fighters have ordered her to remain at home.
"The minister is partially free, but has been told to stay in the family home and not to leave Balad," a family member told Agence France Presse by telephone from Balad, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"She is not free to go to Mogadishu to take her post -- she will be here because she might otherwise face bad consequences," they added.
The only woman in a new 18-member government unveiled by Prime Minister Abdiwali Mohamed Ali on Wednesday, Aqiil was traveling into Mogadishu to take up her new job when she was abducted.
Before her elevation to ministerial office, Aqiil was previously a women's rights campaigner. A widow, her husband was abducted and killed by suspected Islamist gunmen three years ago.
Residents of Balad town confirmed her house arrest.
"She is a prisoner but not in a cell," said Abdiwahab Mohamed.
"It is better she saves her life, and not die at the hands of Shebab -- that is what the elders told her," said Mumin Duqow, another resident.
Somalia is the worst affected country in the drought-hit Horn of Africa region, with two regions controlled by the Shebab declared by the U.N. to be experiencing a famine.
Tens of thousands have already died in Somalia in recent months, according to the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization.
Source: Agence France Presse
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