Prominent doctor killed in Mogadishu

A prominent doctor and younger brother of faction leader Hasan Muhammad Nur Shatigadud was killed in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on Wednesday by unknown gunmen.

Dr Husayn Muhammad Nur, one of the best eye specialists in Mogadishu, was gunned down in front of his clinic by unidentified gunmen, his colleague Dr Abdullahi Farah Aseyr told IRIN on Thursday.

The reason for the killing is not yet clear, but sources in Mogadishu told IRIN it had been "a kidnapping gone bad", because he resisted.

"It is a huge loss not only for our profession and his family but for the people who depended on him," Aseyr said.

He told IRIN that Husayn, who returned from Italy in 1990, had declined to leave the country "as many other professionals have done".

"He felt he was needed here and he stayed," he said.

Aseyr added that the killing would have "a chilling effect" on other doctors "who are in the diaspora, and who we have being trying to encourage to come back".

"Even those who are still here are re-evaluating the situation," he said. "It would be a disaster for a health system that is already weak if any more doctors were to leave. Something has got to be done to stop this madness."

He said that since the beginning of the civil war in 1990, over 27 doctors and some 50 other health professionals had been killed, while many more had left the country.

Aseyr appealed to Somali political leaders to "once and for all resolve their differences and put the interests of their people ahead of their own".

"We cannot afford to lose any more Husayns in such a senseless manner," he said, adding that the Medical Association was meeting "to decide on how to deal with this situation".