UN employee held for ransom in Somalia
Somalia, Local, 3/2/2002

The UN on Friday announced that it has been trying to ensure the release of one of its employees who was kidnapped in the Somali capital, Makadishu, but no information were mentioned about the kidnappers.

News reports quoted the spokeswoman for the UN Sonia Green as saying that the UN is exerting all its efforts to ensure the release of the Somali employee. He is the first employee for the UN to be kidnapped within one year.

She explained that the UN policy is not to pay a ransom for its kidnapped employees, noting that the kidnappers so far have not demanded any request to that end and that the motive behind the kidnapping is still not clear.

Gunmen seized the Somali employee who was working for UNICEF in Makadishu on Thursday just one day after a statement made by the UN secretary general Kofi Annan that opening an office for UNICEF in this city implies great risks.

This kidnapping came after killing a Swiss volunteer ( 70 year old) last Friday. She was working for a humanitarian aids agency in southern Somalia as well as after several days of clashes in Makadishu in which 27 were at least killed.

Previous Stories:
  Swiss relief worker killed in Somalia   (2/25/2002)
  UN office director appointed in Somalia   (2/22/2002)
  Aid Situation in Somalia   (2/9/2002)

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