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SOMALIA: Kidnap of aid worker strongly condemned
NAIROBI, 22 April (IRIN) - The international humanitarian community on Thursday "condemned in the strongest possible terms" the abduction of an Italian aid worker in the Lower Juba Region of southern Somalia, and recommended the suspension of aid activities in the region.
The man, a veterinarian working with the Italian NGO, Terra Nuova, was kidnapped on Friday in the town of Hagar by an armed militia whose identity is as yet unknown.
The Somalia Aid Coordination Body (SACB), comprising donors, UN agencies and international NGOs, demanded in a press release on Thursday that the relevant local authorities "act responsibly and expeditiously" to secure the aid worker's immediate and unconditional release.
The kidnappers have demanded a ransom, said to be US $100,000, for his release, Terra Nuova told IRIN on Thursday.
Vittorio Cagnolati, the NGO's regional representative, said Terra Nuova was negotiating the worker's release through elders of the Absame community and not directly with the gunmen, so it was not in a position to verify the exact amount demanded.
The kidnapping was made public on Wednesday after sensitive, confidential negotiations had failed to secure the man's release, and after Terra Nuova had managed to brief his family, Cagnolati said.
In January another Terra Nuova veterinarian, Dr Manmohan Bhogal, who was working on the same animal vaccination programme in the Gedo Region of southern Somalia, was murdered. Nobody has yet been held to account for that killing.
Terra Nuova is the only NGO on the ground in Lower Juba, and Cagnolati says it has the support of the local community. The kidnapping "was a very unforeseen incident", he added.
[ENDS]
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 17:48:35 +0300 (EAT) From: IRIN - Central and Eastern Africa <irin@ocha.unon.org> Subject: SOMALIA: Kidnap of aid worker strongly condemned [19990422]
Editor: Dr. Ali B. Ali-Dinar, Ph.D
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