[New York Times] Wayne Long - During my 10 years as the chief security adviser for the UN in Somalia, my team and I negotiated releases in more than a dozen hostage cases. Our strategy was simple: UN assistance was withheld from the Somali clan or region by which or in which hostages were being held until those hostages were released. In every case there was a release, and in no case were hostages harmed or ransom paid. In 1995, for example, the water supply for Mogadishu, the capital, was shut off by the UN humanitarian agencies until a hostage who worked for another aid organization was released. On the first day of the shutoff, the women who collected water from public distribution points yelled at the kidnappers; on the second day they stoned them; on the third day they shot at them; on the fourth day, the hostage was released. The writer, a former Army colonel, was the UN's chief security officer in Somalia from 1993 to 2003.
2009-04-21 06:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive