(SomaliNet) UN Development Program (UNDP) communications adviser Sue Morrell says the men are reportedly in good condition, but not much else is known of their whereabouts. The foreign nationals, a Briton and a Kenyan, are sub-contractors for the Indian company Genesys International Corporation, carrying out a flood control and irrigation survey of two southern Somali rivers, the Jubba and the Shabelle, for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). They were snared at gunpoint and reportedly taken to a nearby town.
"We've effectively got nothing new that I can say. The men are well, but there is no contact between anybody and the abductors. No demands of any sort have been made. It's not in fact a hopeless situation, so we have to play it very, very carefully," Morrell said. However, she said it was "her understanding that they were in their car" at the time of their abduction, but that no negotiations are taking place to gain the captives' release.