A second foreigner working with Doctors
Without Borders died of his wounds in an attack in Somalia that also killed the
group's country director, though the aid organization declared Friday that
despite the risks it would still provide medical care in one of the world's
most dangerous countries.
The deaths in Mogadishu of Philippe Havet,
53, from Belgium; and
Andrias Karel Keiluhu, 44, from Indonesia,
on Thursday underscore the risks that volunteers for the group encounter all
over the world. Havet was country director for MSF, as the group is known by
its initials in French. Keiluhu was a doctor.
The shootings were blamed on a Somali MSF
logistics officer who had been fired the day before over allegations he had
been stealing medicine. The gunman was arrested after the attack.
“MSF will be relocating some staff for
security reasons, but remains committed to continuing our humanitarian work in Mogadishu and elsewhere in Somalia,” the group said in a
statement Friday. MSF said it was “shocked and saddened” by the deaths.
Doctors Without Borders was worried that
Keiluhu could be targeted for further attack even while he was in the hospital
in Mogadishu,
clinging to life. An internal security report obtained by The Associated Press
said that MSF asked the Somali government to protect Keiluhu.
“The clan of the former logistics officer
is thought to have been making significant profits from the re-sale of stolen
MSF-Belgium medicine, and there were concerns about further attempts on the doctor's
life,” the security report said.
Doctors Without Borders has endured deadly
attacks before. In June 2004, five workers with the group – two Afghans, a
Norwegian, a Dutchman and a Belgian – were killed by gunmen in Afghanistan.
The group pulled out of Afghanistan
shortly afterward. Three MSF members – a Kenyan surgeon, a French logistics
expert and a Somali driver – died in Somalia in 2007 after a landmine
attack that the group believes was premeditated.
The Somali employee, who ran the group's
logstics, was dismissed from his job on Wednesday, then returned to the MSF
compound on Thursday and opened fire with a pistol, according to a security
guard there. Guards who had not been informed of the dismissal allowed the
former employee onto the compound, the security guard said.
Havet died immediately. Keiluhu died later
of his wounds later despite numerous blood transfusions, said nurse Abdiaziz
Haji. Keiluhu had been shot several times in the torso, Haji said.
The deaths underscore the dangers faced by
aid workers trying to help residents in a country mired in two decades of
anarchy.
In October, gunmen entered the world's
largest refugee camp – Dadaab, in Kenya but near the Somali border –
and snatched two Spanish women working for Doctors Without Borders. There
whereabouts are unknown. Dadaab is filled with nearly a half million Somali
refugees fleeing conflict and hunger. Kenya
used that kidnapping, as well as previous abductions of British and French
women, to justify its military incursion into Somalia.
Only a few days later, gunmen abducted a
32-year-old female American aid worker in northern Somalia along with a Danish
colleague from the de-mining unit of the Danish Refugee Council.
Many aid groups do not allow international
aid workers in Somalia
or limit the time they can spend there. Security in Mogadishu has improved this year but
Thursday's shooting shows how dangerous it remains. Doctors Without Borders has
been working in the Horn of Africa nation since 1991.
In its statement, the group described Havet
as an “experienced emergency coordinator” who worked with MSF in Angola, Congo,
Indonesia, Lebanon, Sierra
Leone, South Africa
and Somalia,
beginning in 2000. Keiluhu had worked with the group since 1998, in Indonesia, Ethiopia,
Thailand and Somalia.
Meanwhile, Kenya's
military spokesman said Friday that five fighters from the militant group
al-Shabab and one Kenyan soldier died in a clash in southern Somalia. Kenyan forces moved into Somalia in mid-October, declaring the
cross-border kidnappings had created insecurity in neighboring Kenya.
Al-Shabab reported a far different version
of events, saying on its official Twitter feed that its fighters burned three
armored personnel carriers and killed 11 Kenyan soldiers in a complex ambush
that began with the detonation of an improvised explosive device.
It was impossible to confirm either version
of events.
The International Committee of the Red
Cross said Friday that it has set urgently needed medical supplies to southern
Somalia “on both sides of the frontline” –
meaning on the Kenyan military side and the
al-Shabab side.
“More than 100 wounded people, mainly
civilians, reached the medical facilities during the most recent phase of the
fighting,” said Randi Jensen, an ICRC nurse. “It has become very dangerous for
patients to reach the few clinics available to them and we just don't know how
many more wounded are still out there, desperately waiting to get help.”
The ICRC urged both sides to ensure that
civilians are not harmed during the fighting.
The United Nations refugee agency said a
refugee leader in Dadaab was shot Thursday evening and died Friday.
Commissioner Antonio Guterres said he regretted the killing of the chairperson
of the Community Peace and Security Team in the Hagadera camp.
