LONDON — British special forces have attempted to rescue a couple seized by Somali pirates almost three months ago but the mission was aborted amid "bungling" delays, a report has said.
Citing a government official, the BBC reported on Friday that a Special Boat Service team was deployed from Britain to rescue Paul and Rachel Chandler but they were delayed by technical problems and slow decision-making in London.
The team finally arrived near where the pirates were holding the Chandlers, who were seized from their yacht in the Indian Ocean on October 23, but were not in time to rescue them, the BBC said.
"There was some bungling here," the official was quoted as saying. It was not clear when the attempted rescue took place.
In an interview with British television on Thursday, Paul Chandler said they were being treated like "captive animals" and warned their kidnappers were becoming frustrated that their demands for a ransom had not been met.
"They've lost patience. They set a deadline of three or four days. If they don't hear then they say they will let us die," he told ITV News.
The pirates have demanded £4.3 million (seven million dollars) but the Foreign Office in London said it does not pay ransoms.
Source:AFP
Showing posts with label SOMALIA Hospital desperate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SOMALIA Hospital desperate. Show all posts
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Somalia: Government soldiers shot dead son of an eminent comedian
Somali government soldiers have on the injury hours of Friday shot dead Ahmed Amir Roble the son of a famous Somali comedian Awkuku, in a place not far from the Somali presidential palace.
“I was witnessing when three Somali government soldiers haphazardly opened fire at the son of a very well-known Somali comedian Awkuku, they ordered him to stop and he told them that why should I stop you know me as the biological son of Awkuku, and I do live here, and the men dressed in the Somali military uniform ordered him to stop for the second time and the son of the comedian continued his walking ignoring their order and three of the soldiers simultaneously
opened fire at the son and he has died on the spot” said Abdifatah Mohammed an eyewitness who was at the scene where the son of Awkuku was killed speaking to Somaliweyn Website.
The genuine reason as to why the son of late Awkuku was shot dead is not apparent, though some independent sources say that he was a member of Al-Shabab an armed Islamist group which operates in Somalia.
According to the neighbours of Ahmed he was a very generous and introvert person who always liked to help his neighbours.
The late senior Awkuku has died in the Somali capital Mogadishu in the mid of 2009 after a prolong illness.
Mohammed Omar Hussein+2521-5519235 shiinetown@hotmail.com
Source:somaliweyn.org/
“I was witnessing when three Somali government soldiers haphazardly opened fire at the son of a very well-known Somali comedian Awkuku, they ordered him to stop and he told them that why should I stop you know me as the biological son of Awkuku, and I do live here, and the men dressed in the Somali military uniform ordered him to stop for the second time and the son of the comedian continued his walking ignoring their order and three of the soldiers simultaneously
opened fire at the son and he has died on the spot” said Abdifatah Mohammed an eyewitness who was at the scene where the son of Awkuku was killed speaking to Somaliweyn Website.
The genuine reason as to why the son of late Awkuku was shot dead is not apparent, though some independent sources say that he was a member of Al-Shabab an armed Islamist group which operates in Somalia.
According to the neighbours of Ahmed he was a very generous and introvert person who always liked to help his neighbours.
The late senior Awkuku has died in the Somali capital Mogadishu in the mid of 2009 after a prolong illness.
Mohammed Omar Hussein+2521-5519235 shiinetown@hotmail.com
Source:somaliweyn.org/
SOMALIA: Hospital desperate for specialists
MOGADISHU, 21 January 2010 (IRIN) - As conflict continues in Somalia, the main hospital in Mogadishu, the capital, lacks orthopedic specialists to handle the increasing number of patients with broken limbs, a doctor has said.
"Currently, the patients with the most serious injuries are mostly young; 30 of them require specialized treatment that is not available in the country," Mohamed Yusuf, the director-general of Madina Hospital, told IRIN. "Since 2009, we have seen hundreds of patients requiring orthopedic treatment but very few of them can afford specialized treatment; 98 percent of the patients are too poor."
Mogadishu has borne the brunt of the fighting in Somalia, which pits an opposition Islamist group against government troops. The country has been conflict-ridden since 1991 when President Siad Barre was ousted. Although a transitional government is in place, fighting continues in Mogadishu as well as in southern and central parts of the country.
Yusuf said 95 percent of the patients treated in Madina were victims of gunshots and artillery shelling. Of these, he said, 45 percent have limb injuries; 9 percent have chest wounds, 8 percent head injuries and 8 percent stomach injuries.
"We treat and sometimes operate on those with stomach wounds but injuries of the legs are problematic to treat here because we don't have an experienced orthopedic doctor to reconstruct broken bones," Yusuf said. "The most difficult cases involve injuries where a bullet hit the bone, causing fragmentation. Reconstruction using special metal is required but at the moment we do not have a doctor specializing in this sector in the country."
Yusuf said the International Committee of the Red Cross was the main agency supporting Madina and supplying medicine but the availability of specialist doctors remained a challenge: "The only foreign doctors here are from Qatar, working in the maternity sector."
At the same time, Yusuf said the number of injured children was increasing. Most of them, he said, were victims of mortar shelling and since there was no orthopedic expertise available locally, many ended up becoming disabled.
Habiba Ahmed, 41, mother of a nine-year-old boy with spinal injuries, told IRIN: "My child has been suffering for almost four months now, parts of his bones are missing; he was injured when a mortar hit our home. I have come to Madina Hospital for him to be treated but I am told he requires treatment outside the country, which I cannot afford. My child remains disabled."
A report released by Amnesty International on 21 January says indiscriminate attacks in 2009 by all parties to the armed conflict resulted in thousands of civilians killed and hundreds of thousands displaced.
The UN estimates that at least 1.5 million Somalis are internally displaced while 3.7 million require humanitarian aid.
Source:irinnews.org/
"Currently, the patients with the most serious injuries are mostly young; 30 of them require specialized treatment that is not available in the country," Mohamed Yusuf, the director-general of Madina Hospital, told IRIN. "Since 2009, we have seen hundreds of patients requiring orthopedic treatment but very few of them can afford specialized treatment; 98 percent of the patients are too poor."
Mogadishu has borne the brunt of the fighting in Somalia, which pits an opposition Islamist group against government troops. The country has been conflict-ridden since 1991 when President Siad Barre was ousted. Although a transitional government is in place, fighting continues in Mogadishu as well as in southern and central parts of the country.
Yusuf said 95 percent of the patients treated in Madina were victims of gunshots and artillery shelling. Of these, he said, 45 percent have limb injuries; 9 percent have chest wounds, 8 percent head injuries and 8 percent stomach injuries.
"We treat and sometimes operate on those with stomach wounds but injuries of the legs are problematic to treat here because we don't have an experienced orthopedic doctor to reconstruct broken bones," Yusuf said. "The most difficult cases involve injuries where a bullet hit the bone, causing fragmentation. Reconstruction using special metal is required but at the moment we do not have a doctor specializing in this sector in the country."
Yusuf said the International Committee of the Red Cross was the main agency supporting Madina and supplying medicine but the availability of specialist doctors remained a challenge: "The only foreign doctors here are from Qatar, working in the maternity sector."
At the same time, Yusuf said the number of injured children was increasing. Most of them, he said, were victims of mortar shelling and since there was no orthopedic expertise available locally, many ended up becoming disabled.
Habiba Ahmed, 41, mother of a nine-year-old boy with spinal injuries, told IRIN: "My child has been suffering for almost four months now, parts of his bones are missing; he was injured when a mortar hit our home. I have come to Madina Hospital for him to be treated but I am told he requires treatment outside the country, which I cannot afford. My child remains disabled."
A report released by Amnesty International on 21 January says indiscriminate attacks in 2009 by all parties to the armed conflict resulted in thousands of civilians killed and hundreds of thousands displaced.
The UN estimates that at least 1.5 million Somalis are internally displaced while 3.7 million require humanitarian aid.
Source:irinnews.org/
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