Kidnapped Red Cross workers to be released soon

Shebelle News | September 22, 2006

The rebel group called, United Western Somali Liberation Front said that it abducted the two men on 18/09/2006, alleging that its forces mistook the men for workers from the oil companies exploring the Somali state in Ethiopia.

The group identified the two men as Hadiis Ahmed Samatar of Somali Ethiopia and Mr. Dornel of Ireland.

The rebel group now said after it investigated the two men; it became clear that they are relief workers from ICRC not as suspected to be oil workers so the group decided to release the two men in 48 hours.

The group warned that any company that tries to explore oil in the Somali state of Ethiopia will be a harm’s way as the rebel group opposes the Ethiopian rule over that state.

The federal government of Ethiopia has contracts with Foreign oil companies to explore the region’s oil resources.

Red Cross workers kidnapped in Ethiopia

ADDIS ABABA - Two international Red Cross workers were kidnapped at gunpoint in a remote part of eastern Ethiopia, forcing the agency to halt operations in the region for the first time in 11 years, officials said on Wednesday.

The International Committee of the Red Cross engineers, one Irish and one Ethiopian, were kidnapped Monday in the Ogaden region, largely inhabited by ethnic Somalis. The area has been troubled by a low-level conflict between the army and rebels known as the Ogaden National Liberation Front.

"We have suspended all activities in the Somali region for the moment after 11 years of operating in the region," said ICRC spokesperson Patrick Megevand. "One of the hostages is an Irish citizen and the other is an Ethiopian," Megevand told The Associated Press.

"We are in contact with the perpetrators and are trying to mediate for their release."

The Red Cross says it is trying to negotiate the release of 41-year-old Donal O Suilleabháin from Co Sligo.

Mr O'Suilleabháin, a water and sanitation engineer, has worked overseas for the Red Cross for several years, including spells in Darfur in Sudan and Liberia.

Government spokesperson Zemedkun Teckle said Ethiopian police and security are investigating and trying to track down the kidnappers. "No one is sure at this time who the perpetrators are," he told The Associated Press. "We do not know if it is O.N.L.F or not." The kidnapping happened near Gode, 1 100 kilometres east of Addis Ababa.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Irish Red Cross, Dr David Andrews, has called for the immediate release of Mr Ó Suilleabháin. He said the organisation has been working in Ethiopia for many years and as an act of 'generosity and decency' it hopes for his early release. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, is being briefed on the situation. Mr Ahern has asked an experienced negotiator from the Department of Foreign Affairs to travel to Ethiopia to work with the Irish Embassy there.

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