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Somalia: Local aid workers in Somalia hold crisis meetings Mon. July 14, 2008 09:42 am.- By Bonny Apunyu. - (SomaliNet) As anxiety rose over growing insecurity and the unexplained killings of humanitarian staff, local aid workers in Somalia held crisis meetings on Sunday. This year, unidentified gunmen have killed at least three aid workers in the anarchic Somalia and are holding four of their foreign colleagues hostage. In the past week, fears were raised further by leaflets threatening local NGO workers with death if they did not quit their jobs. Sheikh Abdirahim Isse Adow, an Islamist spokesperson, condemned the killings of humanitarian workers. However, he accused some aid agencies of siding with the government and singled out the United Nations Development Programme for criticism, saying it had provided the police with vehicles and salaries. The US military has launched several air strikes inside Somalia in the past few months targeting suspects in the bombings of US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998. Aid sources said most agencies working in Somalia were discussing suspending operations in Mogadishu and the south. "It really is the end of the world if we now have to face death just because we are helping poor people," said a local doctor, who asked not to be identified. In the latest violence, men armed with pistols shot dead the deputy head of a German charity south of the capital on Friday. A week ago, gunmen killed Osman Ali Ahmed, the local head of the UNDP, in a similar attack. The governor of Baidoa, which hosts Somalia's parliament, said yesterday that UNDP staff had withdrawn from the town. "We expected them to stay and complete their projects, but now they have fled," Abdifatah Mohamed said. UNDP officials could not immediately be contacted for comment. Islamist fighters attacked Baidoa on July 7, killing at least four soldiers.-Cape Times 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...