The Somali aid worker kidnapped alongside two foreign colleagues in northern Somalia is in police custody and set to be questioned over his involvement in the incident, the aid workers’ employer said Wednesday (Oct. 26).
The Danish Refugee Council said the Somali man has been in police custody since Tuesday, but did not elaborate, according to The Associated Press. The Danish man and American woman kidnapped with the man are still not released.
“We have good contacts in the country. For the moment, we are working closely with the local authorities and we are all aiming to resolve the situation as soon as possible,” Ann Mary Olsen of the Danish Refugee Council’s international department said in a statement.
Olsen said the group has suspended operations in the Galkayo area, where the kidnapping occurred. The Danish Refugee Council’s work in other parts of Somalia, meanwhile, will continue.
“We are very sad about the incident,” Olsen said. “At the moment Somalia and the rest of Horn of Africa is in the midst of a humanitarian crisis. People are in acute need of relief aid and it is quite tragic that we are targeted like this.”
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