MSF Aid workers killed by former employee

 One day after resignation, a former employee of Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors without borders went back to the compound in the Somali capital of Mogadishu where he killed two international aid workers.

While one of the victims was killed immediately, the second died during surgery later that night. MSF is ‘deeply shocked by this tragic event’:

We will greatly miss Philippe and Kace. We extend our heartfelt sympathy and condolences to their families and friends.”

Philippe Havet, a 53-year old from Belgium, worked for MSF as emergency coordinator in Somalia together with Andrias Karel Keiluhu “Kace,” 44-year old medical doctor to provide emergency medical assistance in the area.

The shooter, a Somalian national, was fired earlier that week by MSF following accusations of theft.

He was not a simple gunman he was an employee with a high local position with the agency and he has a long history of working in the relief field”

said Somali Interior Minister Abdisamad Moalin Mohamud.

Meanwhile, the shooter has been arrested. Christopher Stokes, head of MSF, said it was not clear how the man had been able to smuggle a weapon into the compound.

The shooting follows the killing of 23th of december when three Somali aid workers, while distributing food to famine victims, got shot and killed. Two of them, Muhyedin Yarrow and Mohamed Salad, worked for the UN World Food Programme. The third victim, Abdulahi Ali, worked for Doyale, one of agency’s partners. UN spokesman Martin Nesirky stated:

The trio was attacked in Mataban town in Hiban Province in central Somalia, and illustrate the risks that humanitarian workers can face working in dangerous and difficult environments.“

Somalia is one of the world’s most dangerous places for aid workers to work at and is said to be the world’s worst humanitarian emergency. After two decades of warfare and the worst drought in 60 years, some southern areas in Somalia suffer from famine.

Read more about the drought:

eufrika.org: Das Horn hungert – und niemand schaut hin

Al Jazeera: Rain continues to evade the Horn of Africa

MSF relocated some of their employees from Somalia but will continue its humanitarian work in Mogadishu and elsewhere in the country:

MSF has been working in Somalia continuously since 1991 and currently operates 13 projects in the country, including medical activities related to the ongoing emergency, vaccination campaigns, and nutrition interventions. MSF also assists Somali refugees in camps in Dadaab, Kenya, and Dolo Ado, Ethiopia.”