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UN urges release of aid workers
26/12/2007 22:55 - (SA)
New York - The UN special representative for Somalia on Wednesday called for the unconditional release of two Doctors-Without-Borders' female staff members kidnapped in the country.
Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah said in a statement that kidnapping humanitarian workers "did not serve the cause of peace or Somalia's traditional culture of hospitality, particularly at this religious period of joy and forgiveness - Eid and Christmas."
The two workers - Spanish doctor Mercedes Garcia and Argentinian nurse Pilar Bauza - were manhandled at gunpoint out of their car in Bosasso, in the Puntland region of the Horn of African nation.
Earlier on Wednesday, Somali police exchanged fire with a group of armed men identified as the kidnappers, just hours after they were taken captive. An eyewitness said it was not clear whether the kidnappers or aid workers were hurt.
MSF evacuated its international staff from the area.
Somalia has lacked a functioning government since 1991 after the toppling of dictator Mohammed Siad Barre. Violence in recent months has displaced around 1 million people and has caused some 3 million to flee the country as refugees, according to UN figures.
Ould-Abdallah had warned the UN Security Council in New York that the situation in Somalia is "dangerous and becoming more so each day". He called for a UN-led plan to restore lasting peace and stability in Somalia.
Sapa-dpa
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