Gunmen Won't Let Somali Leader Use Airport

Gunmen refused to let the president of Somalia's transitional government depart for Libya on Thursday from an airfield they control, a witness said.
The gunmen demanded cash from President Abdiqasim Salad Hassan, who wields little power in the lawless country, if he wanted to fly out of the Ballidogleh airport.

The gunmen claimed they were former Abdiqasim bodyguards who hadn't received their salaries. Abdiqasim refused to pay, and returned to Mogadishu with his entourage after a tense standoff at the airfield, 62 miles northwest of Mogadishu, said the witness, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The chartered plane Abdiqasim was supposed to take to Libya returned to its base in neighboring Djibouti.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20031009_1574.html