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MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Gunmen inside an airport in Somalia shot and killed two consultants working for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the U.N. mission in the country said Monday.
A U.N. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information hadn't yet been made public said the two slain workers were working on a counter-piracy program and were looking at the financial flow of money related to Somalia's pirate attacks.
Nicholas Kay, the U.N. representative to Somalia, said the two were working in support of Somalia's aspiration for a peaceful and stable future.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he "condemns in the strongest terms" the slaying, in a statement released from his office. The U.N. chief was in Kigali for observances of the 20th anniversary of the Rwanda genocide. His office said the men were killed at the Galkayo Airport in Puntland, Somalia.
Britain's Foreign Office said one of the workers was British. The French government released a statement from President Francois Hollande's office confirming the victims were a French citizen and a Briton, and demanding justice for the "cowardly" slayings.
William Hague, the British Foreign Secretary, condemned the killings and called on Somali authorities to urgently investigate the case. Ban, the U.N. chief, also urged "the relevant authorities to fully investigate this outrageous crime and to bring the perpetrators to justice without delay."
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Straziuso reported from Nairobi, Kenya.
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