Two aid workers kidnapped in Somalia

Two UN contract workers kidnapped in Somalia. Murray Watson and Patrick Amukhuma were kidnapped in Somalia yesterday. Patrick is Kenyan, and Murray is British. Murray Watson is an ecologist with a long history of work in Africa. I am praying for a quick release, like last time an expat was kidnapped in Somalia.

One thing I find interesting about the media coverage on this is how few outlets have gotten their jobs right. They were contractors for an Indian company which held a subcontract with FAO to do aerial survey work. Not all that unusual if you’re used to how the system works, but hard for an unfamiliar reporter to grasp.

German aid worker kidnapped in Somalia

Somalia is bad ugly territory for aid workers. Today, a German aid worker was taken. No name has been released, but he was an experienced guy who’d been in Afghanistan. He was working for Welthungerhilfe, also known as German Agro Action. Welthungerhilfe is active in Somaliland, which is actually one of the safer parts of the country to work in. There is always terrible risk to working in Somalia, but the need is so great that you can’t really ignore the ethical imperative.