Aid workers kidnapped in Somalia
Armed men abduct two foreigners working with Medecins Sans Frontieres.
Published On 26 Dec 2007
On Monday, armed men released a French cameraman who had been kidnapped in the same region for more than a week. Officials said no ransom was paid.
Gwen Le Gouil was in Bosaso to shoot a documentary on the mass smuggling of refugees from Somalia and other war-torn Horn of Africa countries across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen when he was captured on December 16.
In May, gunmen kidnapped two aid workers – a Kenyan and a Briton – employed by CARE International in the same region.
Puntland, which declared its semi-autonomous status in 1998, is relatively peaceful compared to Somalia proper, which has been wracked by violence since former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991.