Kidnapped French journalist 'okay'

CNN) -- A French journalist kidnapped while producing a television documentary about human trafficking in Somalia said he is "quite okay," and has been allowed to use a mobile phone to talk to his girlfriend in France, according to a short phone interview he gave to a Somali journalist.

Kidnappers with AK-47 machine guns guard French journalist Gwen Le Gouil, taken hostage last Wednesday.


Members of a tribal clan who took Gwen Le Gouil hostage last Wednesday have demanded an $80,000 ransom for his release, indicating the kidnapping is financial and not political, according to Mohamad Mohamed, the editor of Radio Garowe, which broadcasts from northern Somalia's Puntland province.
The president of the breakaway Somalia region of Puntland has been critical of Le Gouil for traveling without government consent in the area to work on the documentary about the mass smuggling of refugees from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, a perilous voyage across the Gulf of Aden.
The hostage-holders allowed Mohamed to speak by phone with Le Gouil Saturday.
"It's quite okay," Le Gouil said when asked about how he is being treated.
Another Somali journalist -- a member of the same clan as the kidnappers -- took photographs showing Le Gouil appearing relaxed, in a cave with two guards standing behind him, their faces covered and holding AK-47 machine guns.
Le Gouil said he was unaware of what efforts were being made to pay the ransom and gain his release.
"I am stuck in the middle of nowhere and I don't have any information about that," he said, adding he has been allowed to have phone calls with his girlfriend in France