NAIROBI, Dec 18, 2007 (AFP) - Authorities in Somalia's autonomous Puntland region are negotiating for the safe release of the French cameraman kidnapped over the weekend, having ruled out the use of force, a minister said Tuesday.

"Although we know where the journalist is and who are holding him, we are seeking his peaceful release," Puntland Information Minister Abdirahman Mohamed Bankah told AFP by phone.

"We have sent elders to negotiate because we realise that any use of military force could unnecessarily lead to loss of life," Bankah explained.

On Sunday, militiamen in the region kidnapped the award-winning cameraman Gwen Le Gouil and demanded 70,000 dollars (49,000 dollars) for his release.

Le Gouil was in Bosasso to shoot a documentary on the mass smuggling of refugees from Somalia and other war-torn Horn of Africa countries across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen.

Hundreds of migrants die each year attempting the crossing, either because their rickety boats capsize or from exhaustion, disease or mistreatment by the smugglers.

International press watchdogs have pleaded with the local authorities to ensure that Le Gouil is freed without any violence or bloodshed.

Lawless Somalia, which has lacked an effective government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, has been particularly hostile to foreign journalists and aid workers, some of whom have been kidnapped or killed.

According to a report released Monday by the Swiss media defence group Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), eight journalists were killed in Somalia this year alone, making it the second most dangerous country for journalists after Iraq.

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