10/11/08 (B473) Shabelle / Le patron d’Hiran regional éducation a été enlevé dimanche soir, dans le centre de Beledweyne, à la frontière éthiopienne. Educational officer kidnapped in Somalia (En Anglais – Info lecteur)

By: Abdinasir Mohamed Guled

The chairman of Hiran regional education agency has been kidnapped at gunpoint in the central town of Beledweyne, near the Ethiopian border on Sunday night, according to residents.

Mohamed Abdi Osman was seized by armed men as he was making survey work of school in the town according to residents.

Reports further said that his bodyguards have been forced to go down from the vehicle and he was seized.

It’s yet unknown the motive behind his abduction.

The current Somali government is internationally recognised, but has lost control of large parts of the country to an insurgency driven by Islamist and nationalist groups.

The government is backed by troops from neighbouring Ethiopia, who are deeply unpopular with many Somalis.

More than three million people in Somalia – almost half the population – are in acute need of food or medical aid, according to the UN.