British aid worker 'kidnapped in Somalia'

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

 

A British aid worker is believed to be among two people kidnapped by gunmen in southern Somalia.

 

The worker and a Kenyan colleague had been working for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) when their car was ambushed and they were held by an armed gang this morning.

 

A Somali aid worker was quoted as saying that the British worker became injured in a gunfight as their bodyguards tried to fight the militia off.

 

“One British and one Kenyan working for the UN’s FAO were kidnapped by clan militiamen somewhere between Bule and Sakow towns in Middle Jubba province,” a Somali aid worker told Reuters. “We understand that the British man was wounded during an exchange of gunfire between the Somali bodyguards and the militia."

 

The AP news agency quoted Mohamed Mumin, a local resident, who said that he saw six armed men open fire on the aid workers' car as it approached them on the road. “I could see a white man running out of the vehicle with blood on his leg. I don’t know whether he was injured or not,” he said.

 

(ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP/Getty Images) UN food agency workers distribute aid to displaced Somalis: two workers were thought to have been kidnapped today

The local commissioner of Bule town, Ibrahim Noleye, identified the two men as a Briton and Kenyan who worked in his region.

 

FAO representatives told Times Online that they were checking the reports.

 

There are fears that the kidnappers could be part of the resurgent Islamist movement in the country, which yesterday seized control of the central Somali town of Bula Burde, killing at least 11 people. The town is the sixth to be attacked in recent months, as instability in Somalia worsens.

 

Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when rival warlords overthrew the dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other. More than a million of its citizens depend on foreign aid. There have been a number of attacks on aid workers in previous months, including kidnappings and land mines that have blown up their vehicles.

 

Britain has no embassy representation in Somalia, with officials in Nairobi, Kenya, believed to be in charge of issues involving UK nationals in the country.

 

Source: Times Online, April 01, 2008