AFR: Somali bandits kidnap Italian nuns in Kenya
10 Nov 2008 11:44 PMBy Otto Bakano
NAIROBI, Nov 10 AFP - Suspected Somali bandits abducted two Roman Catholic nuns from Italy in the north of Kenya today, near the border with war-torn Somalia, officials and residents said.
The armed men attacked the town of Elwak in the Mandera district early in the day, and made off with two vehicles as well.
"The nuns were abducted from their residence in the town," the Kenya Red Cross Society said in a statement.
The nuns -- members of the Little Sisters of Jesus order -- were identifiedin Italy as Caterina Giraudo, 67, and Maria Teresa Oliviero, 61, both natives of the northern Italian province of Cueno.
Somali elders said they were seized by a gang that crossed the frontier from Somali Gedo region, which is largely controlled by Islamist militants battling the transitional federal government.
"We don't know who their kidnappers are, but the information we are gettingindicates that two white nuns have been kidnapped from Elwak and the militias crossed into Gedo region," said Mohamed Ali Yusuf.
"The gunmen forced them into a car and drove them away and nobody knows their whereabouts," added Hussein Dhegey, a local resident.
The Italian foreign ministry confirmed the nun's Italian nationality, whilethe Roman Catholic news agency MISNA said they had been in Kenya for years, with Giraudo a nurse working mainly with the epileptic.
Kenyan security forces who were pursuing the kidnappers confirmed they had crossed the border into Somalia.
"We have deployed security forces who are currently pursuing them," a top police official told AFP.
"So far, no progress has been made because it appears they have already crossed the border to the other side. We are collaborating with village elderson the other side to negotiate" with the bandits.
El Wak is one of the several frontier hotspots where two rival Somali clanshave been fighting for years over access to water and pasture, prompting the government to launch a crackdown.
Armed Somali gangs have carried out scores of kidnappings in recent months,often targeting either foreigners or Somalis working with international organisations to demand ransoms.
On Saturday, gunmen shot dead a Somali aid official working for a US development charity, Mercy Corps, in the country's lawless southern region.
Somali gunmen are holding four foreign aid workers from the French aid group Action Contre la Faim (ACF - Action Against Hunger) and their two pilots in central Somalia who were abducted last week.
Gunmen are still holding a Japanese female doctor and Dutch nurse working for the French-based medical charity Medecins du Monde (MDM - Doctors of theWorld), who were abducted inside Ethiopia in September.
Two foreign journalists -- Canadian Amanda Lindhout and Australian Nigel Brennan -- are also being held by a Somali group. They were kidnapped in August.
Aid groups in October said at least 24 aid workers -- 20 of them Somalis --had been killed so far this year in Somalia, with more than 100 attacks against aid agencies reported.
Somalia, a nation of around 10 million people, has lacked an effective government since the 1991 ouster of president Mohamed Siad Barre touched off a bloody power struggle that has defied numerous attempts to restore stability.
AFP wf=0A