UN security officers attacked by gunmen

Two United Nations security officers were evacuated from Merka, southern Somalia, on Tuesday after coming under attack by a group of gunmen. The two officers, one British and one Nepalese, were attacked at the UN World Health Organisation (WHO) compound by a group of “30 to 40 men bearing small arms”, said a UN statement released on Tuesday. Local security guards managed to repulse the attackers after a 20-minute fire fight at the WHO compound on Monday evening. According to the statement, the attackers were “a group of armed fundamentalists”. It said a variety of organisations were active in Merka - which lacks an established authority - including members of the Islamic groups Al Itihad, and Al Islah, “as well as Sharia court supporters”. The UN said it had closed for the foreseeable future all UN travel and operations in Merka “because of the continued threat”. The security officers were in Merka to carry out a security survey to determine whether UN agencies could resume humanitarian work, after operations were suspended for security reasons in May. UN programmes ceased after unidentified militiamen sprayed gunfire at a European Community humanitarian plane. Other incidents in Merka include a bomb discovered on the roof of the WHO compound, and a grenade attack at both the WHO compound and the offices of the Coordinating Committee of the Organisation for Voluntary Services (COSV), an Italian agency. The UN security officers were told by a group of locals that the UN was “not welcome”, said the statement, and were then attacked later that evening. Somali political sources in Merka told IRIN that although the culprits of the fire fight had not been formally identified, they were widely held to be “fundamentalists” sent by the Islamic Courts. The source said that there was an “extremist element” attached to the Islamic Courts in the region who wanted to control “all activities, including those of the humanitarian NGO’s and the UN”. A local humanitarian source said from Merka that Moslem groups had put pressure on all humanitarian groups: “We share this problem with the UN, the fundamentalists would like everything under their control”. Humanitarian workers had been put under pressure to go to the Islamic Courts and give details of organisational mandates and activities, said the source. A letter had been received by one humanitarian agency on Monday from the Islamic Courts, stating that there was no intention to interfere with humanitarian activities in the region. “This attack has no relation to the letter, it shows a lack of control”, said humanitarian sources in Merka. Representatives and militia from the Islamic Courts in Mogadishu came to Merka in October, local Somali political sources told IRIN. A group was appointed as Islamic Court representatives, but no single leader takes local responsibility, said the source. “They cannot control the area and cannot control their militia”, said the source. Attempts to impose curfews, gun control and disarmament have been limited. “There are a lot of gunmen in Merka”, political sources said - “but there is no authority here”. The attack followed the return of a cautious optimism after two aid workers held hostage were released in Mogadishu on Monday with the help of the newly elected president, Abdiqassim Salad Hasan, and the business community. Sources in Merka told IRIN the effect of the newly appointed president was “unpredictable” because he was out of the country, and had not yet visited Merka.