Gunmen in southern Somalia killed an employee of the UN's World Food Programme (WFP), the relief agency said on Monday. Abdulkadir Diad Mohamed, a Somali who joined WFP in June as an administration and finance assistant, was apparently abducted and then shot dead when he tried to escape.
Kidnappings and killings are common in the Horn of Africa nation, where insurgents have been battling the country's interim government since the start of last year. Some attacks are political but others are the result of lawlessness in a desperately poor country awash with weapons.
"WFP does not believe his death to be related to the recent spate of targeted attacks on aid workers in Somalia," WFP said in a statement, without elaborating. WFP said details were still being gathered but it appeared Mohamed, 33, was killed on Friday while visiting his home in Dinsor.
It said the driver of the vehicle he was using - who was not a WFP staff member - was also killed, while a third member of their group managed to escape. It was the first violent death of a WFP staff member in Somalia since 1993, although five drivers working for WFP contractors have been killed since the start of the year.
"I am shocked by this senseless and barbaric attack on one of our staff. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and colleagues," WFP's Executive Director Josette Sheeran said in the statement. France, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, denounced the attack.
"The presidency of the Council of the European Union firmly condemns these acts of violence committed against humanitarian staff and calls for an immediate halt to these intolerable acts," Paris said in a statement. It urged all sides to redouble their efforts to find peace. The fighting in Somalia has triggered a humanitarian crisis that aid workers say may be the worst in Africa.
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