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Some details of kidnapping of Azerbaijani citizen in Somalia publicized

17 March 2009 10:57 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Lachin Sultanovaâ€“APA. Miraga Babayev, Azerbaijani citizen released from hostage in Somalia, is a head of UN humanitarian operations in Baidoa, the city in southern Somalia, spokesman for the Azerbaijani foreign ministry Elkhan Polukhov told APA. It was previously reported that Babayev is a volunteer of the UN Development Program (UNDP). Miraga Babayev and his colleagues, a Ghanaian worker for UNDP, and French and Somalian citizens working for the World Food Program, were kidnapped from their car by gunmen on their way to an airstrip. UN press service said no violence or shooting was reported to have occurred during the incident. â€œUN has known the place of hostages since early morning, but it was impossible to contact with the gunmen. UN Headquarter in New York received information about releasing of the hostages at 22.00 by Somali local timeâ€.

Somalia has had no effective central authority since 1991. The country faced with the sharp humanitarian crisis caused by instability, drought and global economic problems. 40 percent of Somali population (3.2 million) depends on the international humanitarian assistance.