Somalia

Islamist militia raid three UN offices

Article published on the 2009-07-21 Latest update 2009-07-21 17:43 TU

Residents carry their belongings Monday as they leave an area of renewed clashes in Mogadishu.
(Photo: Reuters)

Somalia’s hardline Islamist Shebab militia raided the offices of three UN organisations hours after they banned their operations on the grounds they were "enemies of Islam and Muslims".

The United Nations Development Programme, the UN Department of Safety and Security and the UN Political Office for Somalia, in the towns of Wajid and Baidoa, were targeted by the armed group.

In response, the UN said it would temporarily suspend its humanitarian work in one of the two towns where the Islamists struck.

United Nations official Rozanne Charlton told RFI that various equipment had been seized during the raids. "The significant problem for us is that amongst that equipment was radio equipment - and when we don't have radio communication in an emergency zone like Baidoa, we cannot continue our operations," she said.

 

Al-Shebab is linked to al-Qaeda. It has taken control of much of southern and central Somalia in relentless battles against the government and Ethiopian troops that ousted an Islamist movement of which they initially were a part.

Hours after the raids, al-Shebab said in a statement: "The above foreign agencies have been found to be working against the benefit of the Somali Muslim population and against the establishment of an Islamic state in Somalia."

The UN does not have permanent foreign staff in the war-ravaged country, and runs programmes from neighbouring Kenya. Since plunging into cycles of violence with the 1991 ousting of president Mohamed Siad Barre, the Horn of Africa state has become one of the world's most dangerous places for foreign workers.

At the weekend, three foreign aid workers were abducted by Somali gunmen during a raid in a Kenyan border town, while two French agents are still being held after being seized last week in Mogadishu.