This morning, four expatriates working for humanitarian aid agency Action Against Hunger-France (ACF-France) and two Kenyan pilots were kidnapped in Dhusa Mareb in Somalia. According to ACF knowledge, they were caught in an ambush by gunmen when on their way to the airport from where they were to return to Nairobi. The team was travelling as part of a convoy when they were attacked. They kidnapped the four Action Against Hunger staff members driving away by car along with the two Kenyan pilots of the plane chartered by the European Commission. A crisis cell was immediately set up in Paris and Nairobi.
Action Against Hunger has been present in Somalia since 1992. The four kidnapped staff are part of a team of 220 local and 14 expatriate aid workers implementing aid programmes in Wajid, Dhusa Mareb and Mogadishu, with a coordination office in Nairobi.
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ENDS
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Militants of al Shabaab display their skills in front of people on a street in the outskirts of Mogadishu, November 4, 2008. The violence in Somalia has killed nearly 10,000 civilians ...
