Somali minister of state kidnapped in Uganda

Unidentified gunmen have kidnapped Somalia’s state minister for defense, Sheikh Yusuf Mohammad Siad, during a visit to the Ugandan capital Kampala.

Few details were immediately available about the incident which took place on Tuesday.

However, the Reuters news agency quoted Somali government sources as saying that the minister was snatched from a residential house where family members were staying.

Uganda provides about half the troops for the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia.

Somalia has been without an effective central government since President Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991, and over all these years, the Somali people have experienced almost nothing but chaos and suffering.