19 May 2007 04:19 SOMALIA WATCH |
| SW News | ||
Friday, 30 March, 2001, 15:07 GMT
16:07 UK
UN hostages freed in Somalia
The latest release follows UN negotiations with Musa
Sudi Yalahow
Somali gunmen have released another two of the United Nations
aid workers they kidnapped on Tuesday.
The two are Belgian Pierre-Paul Lamotte and Frenchman Mohamed Mohamedi. Two Britons, Bill Condie from Scotland and Roger Carter, are still being held. Ten people were abducted when gunmen loyal to warlord Musa Sudi Yalahow attacked the Mogadishu offices of the humanitarian organisation, Medicins sans Frontieres. Five other foreign aid workers and a Somali national were set free on Wednesday morning. Pressure The latest release follows UN negotiations with Musa Sudi Yalahow and the intervention of community leaders in Mogadishu.
"They were released on humanitarian grounds. No money was paid, or demanded." On the two Britons who remain in captivity, the spokesman said: "They are in good hands and I expect their release today." UN spokeswoman Sonya Lawrence Green said: "Discussions continue between UN and Somali groups to secure their immediate release." On Thursday, the UN Security Council demanded that all four UN workers should be freed and their abductors brought to justice. Foreign aid workers have been targeted in Mogadishu by gunmen who see them as a lucrative source of foreign currency. MSF says it has now suspended operations in the Somali capital. Meanwhile, heavy fighting has flared up between opposing militiamen from the Marehan clan in the southern border town of Bulo Hawo. The fighting, which erupted early Friday morning, is between the pro-Ethiopian militias led by Colonel Abdirizak Bihi and those of Mr Ahmed Sheikh Buraleh who supports the new transitional government in Mogadishu. Central government? The hostage-taking underlines the problems faced by Somalia's new national government, which was formed last year after months of peace negotiations. Somalia was without a central government for almost a decade after President Muhammad Siad Barre was ousted in a coup in 1991. The country was divided into a series of fiefdoms run by warlords and faction leaders. A peace conference in Djibouti last year established a new central government and appointed Abdulkassim Salat Hassan as president. But the conference was boycotted by many of the faction leaders including Musa Sudi Yalahow. Those faction leaders have now come together to form the Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC) in a move designed to challenge the government. _______________ Related Links:
[ News] |
||
