Aid Workers Kidnapped from Kenya’s Dadaab IDP Camp

In what may have been an attempt to kidnap the General Secretary of the Norwegian Refugee Council, an aid convoy was attacked at the Dadaab IDP camp along the Kenya-Somalia border on 29 June, resulting in the death of one local staff member and the kidnapping of four aid workers. Following is the most complete media report posted so far, confirming details provided to CCI by sources in the region:

“NAIROBI, June 29 (Reuters) – Gunmen kidnapped four foreign
refugee workers and a driver at Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp near
the border with Somalia on Friday, police said, in the latest
attack since Kenya sent troops into Somalia to try to crush
Islamist militants.

Kenyan police said the staff were working for the Norwegian
Refugee Council (NRC) and that they suspected the gunmen to be
sympathisers of Somalia’s al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab insurgents.

“So far we have not confirmed the nationalities of the four
foreign workers who were kidnapped,” Philip Ndolo, the region’s
deputy police chief, told Reuters.

“We suspect this could be the work of al Shabaab
sympathisers.”

It was the first kidnapping of foreigners since Kenya sent
troops into Somalia in October to fight the militants.

Kenya deployed its troops days after two Spanish women
working for Medecins Sans Frontieres were kidnapped at the
Dadaab refugee camp last October. They are still being held by
the gunmen.

Dadaab, located about 100 km for the Somali border, was set
up in 1991 to house Somalis fleeing violence in their country.
It has since grown to become the world’s biggest refugee camp
with almost 500,000 residents.

Ndolo said the gunmen shot at a convoy of two vehicles, but
one of the vehicles drove away while the other was taken by the
gunmen.

“They shot at the first of the two vehicles, but it drove
off. It had other workers. The staff were driving from one camp
to another,” Ndolo said.

He said a driver was wounded in the attack on its staff.

Police and the military were now pursuing the kidnappers who
drove towards the border, police said.

The NRC, which is based in Oslo, confirmed there had been an
incident with an NRC convoy in Dadaab.

“There has been an incident involving the general secretary
of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Elisabeth Rasmusson, but she
is now safe,” said Rolf Vestvik, director of advocacy and
information at the NRC.

“We can confirm that our secretary general was part of that
convoy. And she is unharmed and safe. We are now trying to get
more information on what has happened.”