Saturday, January 10, 2009

Aid workers held in Somalia feared death daily

Two aid workers held by Somali gunmen for 108 days told Saturday how they feared death daily. The agency they work for said no ransom was paid for their release.Japanese doctor Keiko Akahane, 32, and Dutchman Willem Sools, a 27-year-old nurse, spoke at a news conference after arriving in Paris, where their aid agency Medecins du Monde (Doctors of the World) is based."Every day I was afraid we might get killed. In the first week, then month, we didn't know when we'd get killed — was it tonight or tomorrow night?" Akahane told reporters, speaking in Japanese. "Every time we heard the guns, we thought this is the end."Akahane and Sools were kidnapped in Ethiopia and taken across the border to Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. The impoverished nation that has been left reeling by factional fighting. They were released in Mogadishu on Tuesday.The president of Medecins du Monde, Pierre Micheletti, told reporters he was reluctant to discuss the details of the release of the pair, but said "there was no financial transaction in this release."Sools said the day of their kidnapping "was the only day that was very violent" with "a lot of shouting and pointing of guns."..more..http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090110/ap_on_re_eu/eu_france_somalia_kidnapping

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