The United Nations Development Program says an international staff member with UNICEF was abducted earlier today in Somalia. It took place in the lower Juba region, northwest of Kismayo.
Sandra Macharia is the Somalia spokesperson for the UNDP. She told Voice of America reporter Cole Mallard that staff member Robert McCarthy was abducted around 11 a.m. on the outskirts of the town of Afmadow, about 110 kilometers northwest of Kismayo, on the coast of Somalia.
She says these kidnappings used to be more common than they are now; the last one was in January 2004. Macharia says usually the kidnap victims are released. Contact information for anyone who has information about the kidnapping is on the website: www.so.undp.org.