Somalia

Somalia kidnappings

Article published on the 2008-04-01 Latest update 2008-04-10 13:14 TU

A refugee camp in Somalia
Oxfam

Two foreigners, a Briton and a Kenyan, have been abducted in southern Somalia.  The two workers are believed to be working for an Indian technology firm.

Initially it was believed that the two kidnap victims were employed by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation for a development project.

However, the FAO pointed out that the two people were working on an aerial survey for an Indian firm, Genesys, sub-contracted by the FAO.

Local police say the two were captured by armed militiamen on their way to Buale in the Lower Jubba region, north of Kisimayo.

The British foreign office says it is investigating the incident and a local district commissioner says he is sending a team to the area where the attack occurred.

High risks, high stakes

Last month 39 leading non-governmental organisations pulled their operations out of Somalia saying that the situation was too dangerous.  There have been a series of abductions of foreign aid workers in recent months in the country.

The NGOs , including Oxfam and Save the Children, say that two million Somalis today require basic humanitarian aid.

Located on the east coast of the Horn of Africa, Somalia's serious humanitarian situation has been worsened by the civil war which began in 1991.  The country slipped into chaos after the fall of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.  In 2006, a government, formed in exile in Kenya two years earlier, managed, with the help of neighbour Ethiopia, to kick out Islamist militia from the capital Mogadishu, but pockets of armed opposition remain.