Search
  1. Home
  2. West Africa
  3. Liberia

Armed men kidnap aid workers

    ABIDJAN

    Six foreign aid workers have been taken hostage in Kolahun, Lofa County, some 250 km north of Liberia's capital, Monrovia, news organisations reported on Thursday.

    Three of those taken work for Medical Emergency Relief International (MERLIN) while the others are from Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) and a US charity called International Rescue Committee.

    Eyewitnesses reported that armed men entered MERLIN's compound in Kolahun, near the Sierra Leone and Guinea borders, on Wednesday and abducted midwife Sara Nam (30), logistician David Heed (26) and doctor Mike Roe (33) according to a MERLIN news release sent to IRIN. All three are British.

    The other abductees are a Norwegian man and an Italian woman who work for MSF, and a British male working with the US charity, BBC reported.

    "MERLIN is very concerned about the situation and we are doing everything we can to secure our colleagues' safe release," Director of Operations Jules Pieters said. Steps are being taken to ensure the safety of other staff in locations around Liberia, MERLIN added.

    The MERLIN team is in Lofa County to rehabilitate hospitals and clinics destroyed by seven years of civil war. It supports 21 health centres and two hospitals, including Kolahun hospital, throughout Liberia with training equipment and basic drugs and also runs a disease control programme there.

    The kidnapping came as Liberia's President Charles Taylor announced that the area had been invaded by "dissident forces" from neighbouring Guinea.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

    Share this article

    Our ability to deliver compelling, field-based reporting on humanitarian crises rests on a few key principles: deep expertise, an unwavering commitment to amplifying affected voices, and a belief in the power of independent journalism to drive real change.

    We need your help to sustain and expand our work. Your donation will support our unique approach to journalism, helping fund everything from field-based investigations to the innovative storytelling that ensures marginalised voices are heard.

    Please consider joining our membership programme. Together, we can continue to make a meaningful impact on how the world responds to crises.

    Become a member of The New Humanitarian

    Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

    Join