June 17 2009

SOS co-worker kidnapped in Mogadishu

17/06/2009 - The principal of the SOS Kindergarten in Somalia's capital town Mogadishu has been kidnapped yesterday for unknown motives.

Yesterday, 16 June 2009, around 4.00pm East African time, two men armed with pistols stopped a private vehicle carrying a driver and three passengers (two SOS co-workers and another person) from the SOS Children’s Village in Mogadishu to their homes. The two men asked Mrs Kaltun Mustaf Haji, the principal of the SOS Kindergarten, to get out of the car and took her with them in the car in which they were travelling. The other two passengers and the driver were unharmed.

The motive behind the abduction, the people responsible and the whereabouts of Kaltun Mustaf Haji remain unknown and no formal claim of responsibility has been made so far.

Mrs Kaltun Mustaf has been working with SOS Children’s Villages Somalia since 1997 first as a kindergarten teacher and then, from 2003, as the kindergarten principal.

SOS Children's Villages Somalia is closely working with the family, elders and leaders in Mogadishu for Mrs. Kaltun’s safe release.