Sunday, September 21, 2008
Muse Gelle Yusuf, governor of the northern port of Bosasso, said the couple were kidnapped Saturday night. They had been living in a hotel in Bosasso, he said.
Foreigners, journalists and humanitarian workers are frequently abducted for ransom in Somalia.
Germany's Foreign Ministry said Sunday that its embassy in Kenya was aware of the report and was working with local authorities to gain more information.
Somalia has not had an effective central government since 1991, leaving the country in the grip of violence and anarchy.
Islamic militants have been battling Somalia's fragile government and its Ethiopian allies since December 2006, when Ethiopian troops ousted the Islamists from the capital and much of southern Somalia, which they had controlled for six months.
Thousands of civilians have died in the fighting, and hundreds of thousands more have fled the capital, Mogadishu. In addition, piracy is rife off the coast of the Horn of Africa nation.
Source: AP, Sept 21, 2008