A spokesman for the Somali National Front, Ibrahim Jama Hawle, told reporters in Mogadishu that Ethiopian troops had picked up the Marehan clan's traditional elder, Ugas Omar Ugas Hirsi, in Gedo, AFP reported.

The SNF spokesman said he was abducted after he refused to attend an Ethiopian-sponsored inter-Marehan conference in the Bulohawo district in the south of Gedo region, bordering Ethiopia and Kenya.

The SNF has accused Ethiopia of supporting and training the rival Rahanweyn Resistance Army in Bay and Bakool regions.

"It is possible the abduction was to stop Ugas Omar from visiting Djibouti [for peace talks]," the spokesman said.

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