The Filipino aid worker and his three colleagues seized last Friday have been recovered from their abductors at the Kenya-Somali border, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) yesterday said.
According to DFA spokesman Raul Hernan-dez, Glenn Costes, shelter project officer of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), and his co-workers from Canada, Pakistan and Norway, “are safe and are now on their way to Nairobi.” He said the department received the information from Philippine Ambassador to Kenya Domingo Lucenario, who was informed by the NRC that the hostages had been found.
Reports from Nairobi said the four were released overnight in southern Somalia after a short gunfight, and were safe with the Kenyan army.
“They are safe in our hands, they have been freed,” Kenyan army spokesman Cyrus Oguna told Agence France Presse, adding the two men and two women seized last Friday were released after a joint operation of Kenyan and Somali troops.
“They were released in a joint force of Somali and Kenyan forces, during which one of the kidnappers was killed,” he said. Three others were arrested.
“They are exhausted, they have walked far and have blisters, and one of the aid workers was shot in the leg, but otherwise they are in good health,” Oguna said, adding they were now in the southern Somali border town of Dhobley.
“They are receiving medical attention at our base while they await transfer back to Kenya,” Oguna added.
Somali forces heard reports the gunmen were heading for a dense area of remote forest some 25 kilometers from Dhobley, and rushed to chase them down.
Kenyan security forces scrambled military helicopters and aircraft after gunmen attacked the NRC convoy around midday Friday, while vehicles and troops on foot searched the remote scrubland either side of the porous border with Somalia.
But the aid workers’ vehicle, which the gunmen stole after killing the driver, was found abandoned a few hours after the attack, and fears grew the gang had escaped with the aid workers into Somalia.
The kidnapping was the latest in a series of attacks in Dadaab, where gunmen last October seized two Spaniards working for Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders). They are still being held hostage in Somalia.
Meanwhile, Costes will undergo a medical check-up and debriefing upon his arrival at the Kenyan capital, Hernandez said.
Relatedly, piracy off the coast of Somalia has been a threat to international shipping since the 1990s.
According to Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac, the number of Filipino seafarers in Somali captivity is now placed at 45, following the release of the 21 Filipino crewmen of the M/T Liquid Velvet early this June.
“With the release of M/T Liquid Velvet, only five ships, with 45 crewmen, are now left at the hands of the Somali pirates,” he added.
M/T Liquid Velvetwas released last June 4 after being held captive since October 31 last year.
The Marshall Islands-flagged, Greek-owned chemical and oil tanker has a full crew of 21 Filipino sailors on board.
Despite this development, the POEA chief said the Philippines’ anti-piracy training campaign is still going on full blast.
“This program has been ongoing for the past three years. It is one of our requirements before a new seafarer can be allowed to board his ship,” Cacdac stressed.
He added training is being conducted by manning agents and shipowners themselves to ensure the efficiency and quality of their prospective sailors.
AFP and PNA