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Somalia: UN agency calls for immediate release of abducted staff Mon. June 23, 2008 10:04 am.- By Bonny Apunyu. - (SomaliNet) UN refugee agency UNHCR Monday called for the immediate and unconditional release of its staff who was abducted by unknown armed men on Saturday night from his home outside Somali capiatl Mogadishu. In a statement, the agency said Hassan Mohamed Ali, also known as Keynan, was taken from his home on the outskirts of the Somali capital at night by armed men who drove him to an undisclosed destination. "By Sunday evening, UNHCR had heard nothing from him or from his abductors and the reason for his abduction remained unknown," UNHCR said. The UN Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, had earlier called for unconditional release of Keynan. "We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Hassan Mohamed Ali," he said on Sunday after his tour of Kenya to mark the International Refugees Day that was observed on 20 June. He said the abduction of Keynaan was a major blow to humanitarian efforts to alleviate the suffering of an estimated one million internally displaced people inside Somalia. Guterres's three-day mission to Kenya focused on Somalia's dramatic humanitarian situation. Guterres spent last Wednesday and Thursday with Somali refugees in the huge Dadaab in northern Kenya. Since humanitarian agencies began scaling down their presence in the war ravaged in Somalia, the militia gangs that roam the capital Mogadishu have increasingly resorted to kidnapping indigenous Somalis who work for international organisations. "Following a series of kidnappings and abductions of expatriate aid workers in northeast Somalia, or Puntland, and in south/central Somalia, the United Nations in April withdrew international staff and was gradually redeploying to other areas deemed safer," UNHCR said in its statement. Ali, the statement added, is the longest-serving UNHCR staff member in Somalia and is well-known in Mogadishu as a humanitarian and human rights advocate. He and his family had also been displaced last year by the unrelenting conflict in the city and were living in Ceelasha village, west of Mogadishu on the road to Afgooye. At the time of his abduction, Ali was reportedly finalising plans for the latest distribution this week of basic aid supplies to some 40,000 newly-displaced people living in crowded, makeshift sites along the 30km stretch of road from Mogadishu to Afgooye. An estimated 300,000 internally-displaced Somalis are trying to survive along the Afgooye corridor in what High Commissioner Guterres described last week as possibly the worst place in the world to live.-Pana News Category: Somalia Latest Headlines Latest News Nigeria: Militants say know whereabouts of kidnappe... Somalia: President Yusuf urges MPs to work togethe... Somalia: Two civilians killed as Islamist rebels at... Somalia: Somali pirates release Filipino crew held ... India: Army evacuates over 120,000 amidst flood scare... US plans to divert some marines from Iraq to Afghani... Zimbabwe: President Mugabe ready to form a new gov’t... Somalia: Muslim nations urged to step up aid to war... Sri Lanka: 36 rebels killed as gov’t troops, rebels c... Ethiopia: President Meles considers withdrawing... More News...