Two MSF Staff Kidnapped in Somalia

by Michael Bear · 2009-04-19 12:18:00 UTC
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Continuing today's mini-meme focusing on attacks against aid workers - two staff with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) Belgium were kidnapped in Somalia over the weekend.

According to Reuters:

"Gunmen kidnapped two aid workers, believed to be Belgian and Danish, in central Somalia on Sunday, a local elder and another relief worker said.

'Unidentified armed men kidnapped two MSF-Belgium aid workers in Bakol region,' local elder Hassan Maalin told Reuters by telephone from the area.

A local MSF worker who asked not to be named said one of the men was Belgian and the other Danish. He said they were taken in their own car along with their Somali bodyguards."

To read the rest of the Reuters article, see here.  To see the statement released by MSF Belgium (in French), see here.

Somalia is one of the most dangerous countries for aid workers.  Last year, 45 aid workers were killed in Somalia.  So far this year, at least four have been killed.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the MSF staff, their families and colleagues.

(And, in happier news - one of the three ICRC staff kidnapped three months ago in the Philippines has just been released.)

[Photo of MSF operations in Somalia from the Canadian Association of General Surgeons]

Michael Bear
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