Chandlers’ freedom: the story of Mohamed Aden

Among the many questions being asked about the release by Somali pirates of Paul and Rachel Chandler are: Why now? Was a ransom paid? And if so, by whom? But the most intriguing question is what part did a Somali-born American citizen called Mohamed Aden play in gaining the couple's freedom?

Before they were flown on to Mogadishu, and then home to England via Kenya, the Chandlers' sudden reappearance took place in Adado, capital of the central Somali region of Himan and Heeb (also spelt Ximan and Xeeb).

Here the Chandlers were given a "British breakfast" and a shower and introduced to the local community - and the TV cameras - by Mohamed Aden.

Aged 38, with his dark glasses and iPhone, Aden (above right with the Chandlers) could be mistaken for a successful American rap artist who for some bizarre reason has fetched up in Somalia.

In fact, he is the self-styled president of the region. The New York Times described him in a profile published just over a year ago - coincidentally, about the time the Chandlers were first taken prisoner - as "part militia commander, part teacher, part engineer, part environmentalist and part king".

His personal story is extraordinary. In short, Aden escaped Mogadishu a year after the last proper government collapsed in 1991 and the country descended into civil war. Aged 22, he made his way to Miami and then by Greyhound to Minnesota. He got himself a college degree and built a business among the Somali diaspora in Minneapolis.

Two years ago, by now enjoying a comfortable middle-class American lifestyle, he returned with donations collected from his Somali neighbours, aiming to help the members of his clan - the Selaban - cope with the latest drought. He intended to stay for just a few weeks.

The village elders were so impressed by his can-do spirit that they begged him to stay. He finally agreed on condition that things were done his way.

He runs the show just as a warlord might – for the clan and by the clan. The police – who some might describe as his private army – carry rocket-propelled grenades. He writes the region's new laws himself: one introduced last year made it illegal to cut down a live tree - the fine being 100 camels.

In two short years, he has helped provide a government from the bottom up and got schools, homes and businesses built from scratch. He has made it one of the few regions in Somalia that can be described as reasonably safe, where the majority of the people are not destitute. In a vote last month, he was easily re-elected leader of the Himan and Heeb authority.

A report posted 10 days ago on the Minnesota-based website Madasha.com said that whereas so many Somalis were "disheartened and pessimistic about their future", the Himan and Heeb administration had succeeded in getting members of the community involved in building themselves a better life.

Business was booming, said the Madasha posting, with Adado attracting serious investment in housing and even a burgeoning tourism industry. "Plenty of houses, hotels and restaurants are built," the report said.

On Sky News on Sunday morning, Aden said that he had introduced the Chandlers to the community of Adado, and "the community showed them they are sorry about what happened. They apologised for the treatment they were subjected to in our neighbourhood".

He did not explain how the couple ever got to Adado from wherever it was they were being held captive, nor what part he might have played in engineering their release.

When the New York Times visited Adado, they found an infamous Somali pirate – going by the name Son of a Liar – building himself a new house behind the police station.

Aden was sanguine about the man's presence. "You can't just wipe out a whole line of work for thousands of young men," he said. "If you take something away, you must replace it with something else. Otherwise, more problems."

That was a year ago. Has the man from Minnesota persuaded some of the pirates at least that there is a future based on tourist dollars that does not involve kidnapping them? ·