Wednesday, November 05, 2008
The kidnappings took place at around midday (0900 GMT) in Dhusa Mareb, an area under Islamist control near the Ethiopian border, shortly after the six landed on a humanitarian mission in the region.
Somali sources said the hostages were two French nationals, a Belgian, a Bulgarian and the two Kenyan pilots.
"They were snatched by gunmen as they were trying to leave the airstrip in Dhusa Mareb," said one local residents who had helped the NGO coordinate their trip.
"The plane's pilots were also taken. The aid workers were three women and a man working for ACF..." he added.
Mohamed Abdullahi Moalim, a local elder, said the local authorities had set up checkpoints in a bid to intercept the kidnappers and their hostages.
"The local security forces are trying to trace them but we're not sure in which direction they went," he told AFP.
Armed Somali gangs have carried out scores of kidnappings in recent months, often targeting either foreigners or Somalis working with international organisations to demand ransoms.
Gunmen are still holding a Japanese female doctor and Dutch nurse working for the French-based medical charity Medecins du Monde (MDM), who were abducted inside Ethiopia in September.
Two foreign journalists are also being held by a Somali group.
Dhusa Mareb in an Islamist stronghold run jointly by the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) and the Shebab group.
The ICU is the movement that briefly took over Mogadishu and large parts of the country in 2006 before being ousted by Ethiopian troops backing fragile government forces.
The Shebab was then its armed youth wing but when the ICU's top leadership fled the country two years, it grew into a separate movement and has since been waging a deadly guerrilla war against the Somali government and Ethiopia.
The few aid organisations still operating in Somalia have had to reach understandings with Islamist insurgents for protection.
But the Shebab itself is divided over kidnappings, with some factions seeking ransoms and others demanding the hostages' release.
Following such disagreements, the MDM aid workers abducted in September were transferred to Mogadishu by their captors of the Kulan Farah group -- a Shebab offshoot -- after crossing the border with Ethiopia near Dhusa Mareb.
Somalia has lacked an effective government and any credible centralised security apparatus since the 1991 ouster of former president Siad Barre touched a bloody power struggle.
Civilians have borne the brunt of the latest fighting, with thousands killed in recent months and hundreds of thousands forced from their homes.
Aid organisations have warned that one of the world's worst humanitarian crises was unfolding in Somalia and complained that attacks and kidnappings had made their operations virtually impossible to sustain.
Source: AFP, Nov 05, 2008