Abductions --- Unfortunately Nathalie, colleagues are too often abducted, either for money, or simply to send a strong signal to the humanitarian institution that it is not welcome in the area. Negotiations can take months, sometimes years, and as we cannot pay, otherwise it would be an open door to more abductions, we try to work through third parties. We have two collegues in this course from the ICRC delegation in Somalia, maybe they would like to add something on this issue.

Source author: Jean-Michel Monod jmmonod@yahoo.com