The Islamists also demand that African Union peacekeepers are taken out of Mogadishu.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said that he hopes to negotiate the release of the security adviser who is held by the Somalis.
He claimed as well that the Somali government of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was legitimately in power and was supported by the people of the country.
Another French security man, who had been taken as a hostage on the same day as the one who is still being held, gained his freedom last month and has returned safely to France.
