French newsman 'safe' in Somalia

Gwen Le Gouil was awarded this year's Prix Albert Londres

Negotiations are underway to free a French journalist, abducted on Sunday by gunmen in Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland.

Gwen Le Gouil was kidnapped within 24 hours of his arrival in Bossasso to research a story on human trafficking.

Puntland's deputy Governor Yusuf Mumin Bidde told the Associated Press that Mr le Gouil was safe and well.

"We have sent clan elders to secure the release of the journalist." France has also been in touch with the kidnappers.

Puntland government officials and elders said the abductors had asked for a ransom of $70,000 (£35,000).

Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said France would do all it could "so that our countryman can be freed as quickly as possible".

Human traffickers

Mr le Gouil is an award-winning journalist, landing this year's Albert Londres prize for a video report on the killing of 17 humanitarian workers in Sri Lanka.

African migrants drown off Yemen

Jean Laurent, a colleague from their small TV company Cargo-Culte Production in Nairobi, said Mr le Gouil was investigating the traffickers who take thousands of migrants from Bossasso across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen.

The attempt often ends in tragedy: on Sunday the bodies of more than 50 people who set off from Bossasso washed up on the Yemeni coast.

A Somali diplomat says he fears that 180 have died in the past week.

Puntland has been known as one of the most stable parts of otherwise lawless Somalia but there have been increasing instances of kidnapping, hijacking and piracy.