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2 aid workers tell stories of 108-day ordeal in Somalia
Source: Agencies |
January 11, 2009, Sunday
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TWO aid workers held by Somali gunmen for 108 days told 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 on Saturday 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."
Akahane said she and Sools spent their days washing their clothes, cleaning their room and cooking their own meals. She also kept a "frank" journal which she said she would only show her family.
The pair also made a daily 'to-do' list and played cards, which Sools said "reminded me very much of my home."
Sools said the motive for the kidnapping remained a mystery. Ethiopia's eastern border region of Ogaden, where they were first kidnapped, has been the scene of more than a decade of fighting by ethnic Somalis for greater autonomy.
"Freedom I now realize is something very beautiful," said Sools, adding that he never considered abandoning aid work during the harrowing ordeal.
"Of course, I still want to continue working ... and that's something they didn't take from me and nobody will take that from me."
Micheletti condemned the kidnapping and denounced the targeting of aid workers which he said was "absolutely incomprehensible ... even in such a complex situation as Somalia."
Japanese doctor Keiko Akahane, 32, and Dutchman Willem Sools, a 27-year-old nurse, spoke at a news conference after arriving on Saturday 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."
Akahane said she and Sools spent their days washing their clothes, cleaning their room and cooking their own meals. She also kept a "frank" journal which she said she would only show her family.
The pair also made a daily 'to-do' list and played cards, which Sools said "reminded me very much of my home."
Sools said the motive for the kidnapping remained a mystery. Ethiopia's eastern border region of Ogaden, where they were first kidnapped, has been the scene of more than a decade of fighting by ethnic Somalis for greater autonomy.
"Freedom I now realize is something very beautiful," said Sools, adding that he never considered abandoning aid work during the harrowing ordeal.
"Of course, I still want to continue working ... and that's something they didn't take from me and nobody will take that from me."
Micheletti condemned the kidnapping and denounced the targeting of aid workers which he said was "absolutely incomprehensible ... even in such a complex situation as Somalia."
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