Two Spanish aid workers are kidnapped in Kenya in a refugee camp close to Somalia

Barcelona (ACN).- Two Spanish aid workers have been kidnapped in north-eastern Kenya on Thursday at around 1pm (CEST). One of the kidnapped aid workers is Catalan, from the Costa Brava town of Palafrugell. Her name is Montserrat Serra Ridao and has a lot of experience working in development and humanitarian issues. The other aid worker is from Madrid. The two women were working for Médécins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders –MSF), as logistics officers, in the Dadaab refugee camps, which are some 100 km from the border with Somalia. They were working in the construction of a new hospital. The kidnapping happened in the Ifo camp. Three armed men shot the car in which the two aid workers were travelling. The local driver was severely injured and is stable in hospital, at the time this news was published. Kenyan police think that the armed men who took the two aid workers belong to the Al-Shabaab group, linked to Al-Qaeda. According to witnesses, three armed men had been wandering around the camp for some hours. MSF is working without private security in Kenya because it does not consider it to be effective. The Spanish Government has contacted Kenyan authorities to activate the diplomatic mechanisms to work on a quick solution to the kidnapping. The Kenyan government closed the border with Somalia and helicopters were working to locate the vehicle. They believe the two aid workers could end in Somalia, a country completely fragmented and controlled by war lords.

Two Spanish women working for Médécins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Dadaab, in Eastern Kenya close to the Somali border, have been kidnapped on Thursday. The two aid workers, one of whom is Catalan, were logistics officers and were building a new hospital in one of Dadaab’s refugee camps. Dadaab is the biggest refugee camp in the world, with more than 400,000 people who are fleeing from Somalia’s civil war. The two MSF workers were kidnapped when three armed men shot the vehicle in which they were travelling. As a result of the assault, the local driver –also an MSF worker– was severely injured, but he is out of danger in hospital. MSF does not work with private security in Kenya. According to Raquel Arroyo, MSF Operations Director, MSF “does not consider that private security represents a security increase”. MSF has eight international workers in Kenya, including the two Spanish women kidnapped, and 60 local staff members.

According to Arroyo, MSF has not had any contact with the victims at the end of this Thursday afternoon. However, MSF contacted the family of the victims only a few hours after the kidnapping happened. The Spanish Ministry for Foreign Affairs did not want to confirm the identity of the victims either. However, it is known one of the two is from Catalonia, from the Costa Brava town of Palafrugell, in Girona province. Her name is Montserrat Serra Ridao. The identity of the other worker is not known yet, only that she is from Madrid.

One of the two MSF workers kidnapped is Catalan and has a huge amount of experience 

Montserrat Serra Ridao is one of the two logistics officers of Médécins Sans Frontières (MSF) kidnapped on Thursday in Dadaab. According to people who know Montserrat Serra, she is in her mid-thirties and has a great deal of experience working in development and international cooperation issues. She has been working in the field for several years, and has travelled widely. Previously she worked for the NGO Africa Viva.

The Spanish and Kenyan Governments quickly started working to find a solution

The Spanish Ministry for Foreign Affairs stated that they do not have any confirmation on the identity of the kidnappers in a press note released in the afternoon. Kenyan police are working with the hypothesis that the kidnappers belong to the Al-Shabaab group, which is linked to Al-Qaeda. This group has a very significant presence along the entire border between Kenya and Somalia. Kenyan police believe the kidnappers had the aim to bring the two Spanish aid workers to Somalia.

Other kidnappings in Kenya

In September, a British woman was kidnapped at night by a group of armed men in the tourist resort of Kiwayu. Judith Tebbut, 56 years old, was taken away, while her husband David Tebbut was shot dead. On October 1^st, a French woman aged 66  was also kidnapped in the tourist coast resort of Manda. Both women are in Somalia, which is in the middle of a civil war since 1991.