An abducted journalist holding US and German citizenship was released on Sunday, dpa quoted the news website Somalia Report as saying. Michael Scott Moore was kidnapped by armed men on Saturday near the town of Galkayo in Gal-Mudug state, a semi-autonomous part of Somalia. Initial reports Saturday said the victim was an engineer. According to Somalia Report, clan elders instigated the mediation efforts that led to his release. "We led the mediation efforts to secure the release of this journalist, and we have managed to persuade the kidnappers to set him free, but they have put a condition demanding the expenditure they have spent for his abduction, and we allowed that," clan leader Yaasin Mahamed Sa'ad was quoted as saying. Scott Moore, who grew up in California, has lived in Berlin since 2006. He is the author of Sweetness and Blood, a story of how surfing spread from California to Asia and Africa. He also freelances for Der Spiegel. He is reportedly working on a book about piracy in the region.
