According to the UN humanitarian organisation, three relief workers died in Somalia between April and June. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), two aid workers were killed when their vehicle was swept away by a flash flood in Gabiley district, northern Somalia, and a third was killed on June 8 in a coordinated attack by al-Shabab on the Pearl Beach Hotel and Restaurant in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital. The UN agency also stated that nine humanitarian workers were kidnapped in three different incidents, two on June 23 in Southwest State and one on June 5 in Hirshabelle State.
“These abductions were reportedly carried out by al-Shabab, but the reasons remain unknown,” according to OCHA’s latest humanitarian access update provided in Mogadishu.
In response to these incidents, local elders took the initiative to negotiate the safe release of the abducted workers, and five of them have so far been released under undisclosed terms and circumstances, according to OCHA, noting that movement restrictions as a reported access constraint decreased significantly in the second quarter.
Movement limitations were enforced for a variety of reasons, including military activities, bureaucratic bottlenecks, interference, politically motivated choices, and internal security concerns within humanitarian organisations, according to OCHA.
Interference with the implementation of humanitarian activities was the most often reported access barrier throughout the reporting period, according to OCHA.