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Sunday, July 06, 2008
MOGADISHU (AFP) — Gunmen on Sunday killed the head of the UN Development Programme in the Somali capital, a UN official said, the latest fatality in a string of attacks on aid workers in the lawless country.
Osman Ali Ahmed was shot as he left a mosque in southern Mogadishu's Bulohube district, and later died in hospital.
"The gunmen shot Ahmed as he was leaving evening prayers in the mosque in Bulohube. He was taken to hospital where he died because of his wounds," a UN official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
His wife Nasteho Abukar Yusuf confirmed Ahmed's death.
"They shot him several times on the head on his head and chest. He was taken to African Union peacekeepers' hospital where he died," she told AFP.
Several witnesses said a second man, whose identity is yet to be established, was seriously wounded in the attack which appeared to be premeditated.
The UN has repeatedly appealed to the Somali government and Islamist militants, who are fighting for the control of the country, to spare aid workers, many of whom have been killed or kidnapped in the recent months.
Aid groups have scaled down operations in Somalia owing to increased insecurity, largely blamed on Islamist militants who have waged a guerrilla war since they were ousted by joint Somali-Ethiopian forces in early 2007.
The African Union has deployed 2,600 peacekeepers in Somalia -- well short of a promised 8,000 troops -- but so far it has failed to stem the violence and unrest.
Neither the Somali government nor the AU peacekeepers are capable of protecting aid workers, officials say.
At least 2.6 million Somalis are facing hunger due to acute food shortages spurred by a prolonged drought, insecurity and high inflation. The UN's famine monitors have warned that the figure could hit 3.5 million by the year's end.
Aid workers have been constantly targeted since the 1991 ousting of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre paved the way for a breakdown in the state machinery and a rise in factional warfare.
A bloody power-struggle has defied numerous UN-backed bids to restore stability in this lawless nation which is home to up to 10 million people.
On June 9, the Somali rival sides signed a truce agreement at UN-mediated talks in Djibouti.
The deal gave both sides one month to implement a cessation of hostilities but it was opposed by Islamist hardliners who have continued their struggle, insisting that an Ethiopian withdrawal was a precondition to talks.
Source: AFP, July 06, 2008