Uganda freed Somalia's state minister for defense yesterday. It’s happened a day after he was bundled into an unmarked car and questioned by security officials in the country's capital.

When the former warlord known as "White Eyes" was taken by security agents, it triggered fears among relatives and colleagues that he had been kidnapped.

[Felix Kulayigye, Military Spokesman]:
"We have a threat from the Al Shabab as you know, they have threatened to attack this country via terrorism and indeed when you get information, if a Somali dissident you get concerned, and it is true the honorable minister was a dissident three months ago and changed status when he decided to cooperate with government. That is why we regret what happened to him, but we wish we could have avoided it. However in security you do not take matters for granted, we had to take action, until we proved him innocent, the status then changed."

Human rights groups have long accused the Ugandan security forces of using heavy-handed tactics when dealing with suspects.

[Felix Kulayigye, Military Spokesman]:
"He attempted to run, after arrest and am sure it forced the arresting officers to fire in the air, so as to apprehend him. Actually he tried to strangle the driver of the vehicle he was traveling in, when he did not succeed he tried to jump out of the pickup, and this is what forced them to fire in the air."

The Ugandan military has about 2,500 soldiers serving in Mogadishu as part of the African Union's 5,000-strong peacekeeping mission. There have been deadly attacks on the African peacekeepers in the past.