Somali government hails rescue of U.S. hostage

NAIROBI, April 12 (Reuters) - Somalia's fledgling government applauded on Sunday the release of an American hostage whose five-day capture by pirates in the Indian Ocean highlighted lawlessness both in and off the Horn of Africa nation.

"We are very happy at this action and the outcome," Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Omaar told Reuters by telephone from Djibouti. "It shows that the world will not accept criminality." (Reporting by Abdiaziz Hassan, Writing by Andrew Cawthorne)