Somalia's junior minister for defence who was briefly held in Uganda has been released, Uganda's army spokesman says.
Sheikh Yusuf Mohamed Siad, a former Islamist warlord, was detained by Ugandan security forces during a trip to the capital Kampala on Tuesday. Army spokesman Lieut Col Felix Kulayigye said he was arrested following a tip-off that a Somali dissident had entered the country.
When it became clear who the man was, he was set free, Col Kulayigye said. Mr Siad had apparently been visiting relatives in Kampala, but had not told the Ugandan authorities of his trip, and was reportedly bundled into an unmarked police car on Tuesday.
Col Kulayigye defended the actions of the security forces. "His arrest was not a mistake. He had not notified us that as a minister he was visiting the country. Had he done that there would have been no problem," he told the BBC.
Mr Siad and his large militia were allied to Hizbul-Islam a powerful Islamist group fighting with the Somali government for control of the country. But earlier this year he defected to the Somali government and was appointed to the defence portfolio.
The government is backed by a 5,000-strong African Union force, half of whom are Ugandan peacekeepers. They have been targeted and killed in fighting with Islamist rebels in recent months.
The BBC's Africa analyst Martin Plaut says Mr Siad's arrival in Uganda would have raised all sorts of questions in the minds of Ugandan security officials. Somalia has experienced almost constant conflict since the collapse of its central government in 1991.
It was hoped the election of moderate Islamist Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed as president in January and the departure of Ethiopian troops would stop the violence. But Islamist insurgents are keeping up their attacks and the government's military position has weakened further.
Mr Siad, who became minister of state for defence in June, served as head of security under President Ahmed when he briefly governed Somalia as chairman of the Union of Islamic Courts for six month in 2006.
<<Print>>