A campaign of kidnapping that began at sea with Somali pirates has expanded onto land and across Somalia's borders. Pirates and their allies in the Somali terror group al-Shabab have begun targeting tourists and aid workers in Kenya and Puntland, a mostly self-governing region in northern Somalia.
The latest victim of the abduction squads: a American woman, grabbed in Puntland apparently on Wednesday along with a Danish colleague. The 32-year-old former teacher was in Puntland to help defuse mines leftover from the region's years of warfare. The fall-out from the kidnapping in an already tense region is yet to be seen.
Even leaving aside piracy, abduction has long been a favorite tactic of Somali extremists. But until recently, the targets were mostly Somalis and foreign journalists and humanitarians working in southern Somalia. The expansion of the kidnapping campaign into Kenya has provoked retaliatory attacks by, so far, Kenya and France -- with the U.S. considering escalated intervention even before the American was taken.
A 56-year-old British tourist was the first to be kidnapped. On Sept. 11, pirates slipped into a resort in Kiwayu, in Kenya near the Somali border. The attackers seized Judith Tebbut and shot dead her 58-year-old husband David. Kenyan authorities have arrested two men in connection with the crime, but Tebbutt remains missing.
On Oct. 1, gunmen -- al-Shabab agents, according to the Kenyan government -- grabbed 66-year-old Frenchwoman Marie Dedieu from a Kenyan island resort. Dedieu, a tetraplegic, died in Somalia after her kidnappers deprived her of her medicine. "This was an act of unqualified barbarism, violence and brutality," said Alain Juppe, the French foreign minister.
Twelve days later, suspected al-Shabab fighters infiltrated the sprawling Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya and kidnapped two Spanish women working for the medical NGO Doctors Without Borders. Dadaab, pictured, is home to hundreds of thousands of displaced Somalis.
"We are working with contacts in Kenya and Somalia to ascertain further information," the State Department said in a statement following the American's abduction. "The United States condemns kidnappings of any kind, and we call for the immediate release of all of the victims involved."
What Washington might do, beyond that, is unclear at this time. Two weeks ago, Kenya invaded southern Somalia with 1,500 troops, helicopters and jet fighters, aiming to destroy al-Shabab -- a move echoing Ethiopia's disastrous two-year intervention in Somalia that ended in 2008. The French military is providing air and logistical support for the Kenyan operation.
Last week, Scott Gration, the U.S. ambassador to Kenya, said Washington was also considering supporting the Kenyans, on top of its ongoing "shadow war" in Somalia involving Special Forces, armed drones and mercenaries. With Somali extremists targeting Americans, the U.S. could decide it now has enough reason to throw its weight fully behind the risky Kenyan assault.
Photo: U.N.
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