Gunmen kill UN officer

2005-10-04 11:26

Mogadishu - Unknown gunmen shot and killed a United Nations security officer in a relatively peaceful region in southern Somalia during a botched kidnapping attempt, local militia said on Tuesday.

The unidentified UN official of Somali origin was slain overnight on Monday in the port town of Kismayo in Lower Juba region, about 500km south of the capital Mogadishu, the militia spokesperson said.

"Unfortunately, the man was killed by gunmen who are yet to be identified," said a senior member of the Juba Valley Alliance (JVA), which controls portions of southern Somalia.

That source and another militia member, who both spoke on condition of anonymity, denied the JVA had been involved in the incident.

Kidnapping a means of generating income

Militia sources said the death resulted from a failed attempt to kidnap the UN official in Kismayo, which has been relatively peaceful in recent months despite ongoing clashes and anarchy in other regions of lawless Somalia.

UN officials in Nairobi, where the world body's Somalia headquarters are located, couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

In February 2004, Somali gunmen kidnapped German UN field security officer Rolf Helmrich in the same region but released him after 10 days.

No ransom was paid then, according to UN officials but militia sources in Kismayo said at the time that the United Nations paid "expenses" incurred by the kidnappers during the time they held Helmrich.

Clan militia in Somalia have used kidnapping as a means of generating income since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled in January 1991, plunging the Horn of Africa nation into anarchy.

- SAPA