French agents kidnapped in Somalia

Two French agents who were in Somalia to train government security forces were kidnapped from a hotel in Mogadishu earlier this week and handed (via the group Hizb al-Islami) to Al-Shabab, which Foreign Policy describes as the "most powerful anti-government militia group" in the country.

Al-Shabab recently pledged to kill any foreign troops that respond to the embattled government's call for assistance, so this kidnapping should be viewed in the context of a wider struggle between forces vying for control of the country. Somalia, it seems, is a constantly troubled country.

As a side note, the French agents were reportedly calling themselves journalists as a cover identity, and were staying in the Funduq Sahafi al-'Aalmee, or the International Journalist Hotel. It's reassuring to see that intelligence agencies are still letting their agents pose as journalists, thus affirming the paranoid accusations of Third World governments everywhere. (/sarcasm)