The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has urged all parties in the ongoing conflict in Somalia to ensure the safety of humanitarian aid workers after one of the agency's staff members was killed in the war-torn nation, according to a UN press release.
WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran condemned the killing of 44-year-old Somali national Ibrahim Hussein Duale, calling it a "shocking attack on one of our staff while he was doing his job," the press release said.
Duale was shot by three masked gunmen while he was monitoring school feeding in a WFP-supported school in Yubsan village, six km from the Gedo regional capital of Garbahare in southern Somalia.
Witnesses say the gunmen approached him while he was seated, ordered him to stand up and then shot him, the release said.
Duale joined WFP in 2006 and was the third WFP staff member killed in Somalia since August 2008.
Without a functioning national government since 1991, Somalia has been plagued by fighting and humanitarian suffering for decades. Continuing instability, coupled with drought, high food prices and the collapse of the local currency have only worsened the dire humanitarian situation in recent months.
The UN estimates that some 3.2 million people, or 40 percent of the population, are in need of assistance.
Source:Xinhua
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