Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Residents walk outside of the Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) compound in Mogadishu, Somalia Mohamed Sheikh Nor/AP/Press Association Images
Somalia

MSF "deeply shocked" by staff killings

The staff members were killed in Mogadishu yesterday. MSF has said today that some staff members are to be relocated from the compound there for security reasons.

MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIERES has said that it is “deeply shocked” by the deaths of two MSF staff members.

The two, Philippe Havet and Andrias Karel Keiluhu (known as Kace) were killed yesterday morning as a result of a shooting in the organisation’s compound in Mogadishu.

MSF said that while one of the aid workers died during the shooting, the other was transferred to a hospital and died after surgery yesterday evening.

The victims are Belgian and Indonesian nationals.

Havet, a 53-year-old from Belgium, was an experienced emergency coordinator who had been working with MSF since 2000 in many countries, including Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Lebanon, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Somalia.

Kace was a 44-year-old medical doctor who had worked with MSF since 1998 in his native Indonesia as well as in Ethiopia, Thailand and Somalia.

Said MSF:

The exact circumstances of the shooting are not yet clear. Our priority is to take care of those most affected by this tragedy, in particular the families and the colleagues of the victims.
MSF will be relocating some staff for security reasons, but remains committed to continuing our humanitarian work in Mogadishu and elsewhere in Somalia.

Philippe and Kace were in Mogadishu working with the MSF teams to provide emergency medical assistance to displaced persons and residents of the city.

We are deeply shocked by this tragic event and we will greatly miss Philippe and Kace. We extend our heartfelt sympathy and condolences to their families and friends.

MSF has been working in Somalia since 1991 and currently operates 13 projects in the country.

These includemedical activities related to the ongoing emergency, vaccination campaigns, as well as nutritional interventions.

MSF also assists Somali refugees in camps in Dadaab, Kenya and Dolo Ado, Ethiopia.

Read: Two Doctors Without Borders staff “shot by fellow employee”>