UPDATE 2-Uganda frees Somali defence minister

Wed Oct 7, 2009 9:52am GMT

[-] Text [+]

* Minister poses no threat - Ugandan military

* Uganda says private visit had aroused suspicion

(Recasts with release, adds background)

By Elias Biryabarema

KAMPALA, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Uganda freed Somalia's state minister for defence on Wednesday, a day after he was bundled into an unmarked car and questioned by security officials in the capital, the Horn of African nation's envoy to Kampala said.

Sheikh Yusuf Mohammad Siad, a former warlord also known as "Inda'ade" or "white eyes", was seized by Ugandan security agents on Tuesday, initially triggering fears among relatives and colleagues that he had been kidnapped.

"The state minister for defence, Inda'ade, has been released. He is in the Somali embassy with me," Somali Ambassador Siid Ahmed Sheikh Dahir told Reuters.

Ugandan has some 2,500 soldiers serving in Mogadishu as part of the African Union's 5,000-strong peacekeeping mission AMISOM, which is guarding sites including the Somali capital's air and sea ports and presidential palace.

Somali rebels struck AMISOM's headquarters last month with a double suicide car bombing, killing the deputy commander from Burundi and slightly wounding the Ugandan commander. Continued...

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