Indonesian Volunteer Reported Missing in Somalia

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Indonesia is conducting a search for a medical volunteer, Aisha Wardhana, who has been reported missing in Somalia since Sunday, foreign ministry spokesman Michael Tene said here on Monday.

"The foreign ministry is still making efforts to trace her whereabouts through its representative office in Nairobi," he said when contacted by phone about the case.

He said the ministry was also trying to find the address of Aisha’s family in Indonesia to ascertain the date of her departure for Somalia. "Until now we have no data about her departure to Somalia,"he said.

The executive director of the Indonesia Committee for Somalia Solidarity (KISS), Syuhelmaidi Syukur, meanwhile said Aisha Wardhana was not included in the Quick Response Action (ACT) team sent to Somalia on August 19.

"Initially Aisah withdrew for personal reasons. But on August 29 the ACT team that was already in Somalia received a call from Aisha who wished to join them in Somalia," Syukur said.

He said Aisha was in Qatar when she contacted the ACT team in Somalia so that she was not in the KISS record. "We received news about Aisha’s abduction on Sunday night from our local guide in Africa, Charles Etoundi. He said Aisha was abducted by armed men," he said.

Syukur said the latest news KISS received was that Aisha had been released and was now in Johannesburg, South Africa, but "until now we have not communicated directly with Aisha."

The ACT team is a humanitarian team sent by KISS to help famine victims in Somalia. The team’s members include Iman Akbari (manager), dr. Adji Suranto, Sp.A., dr. Nahdlatul Ulami alias Nilam and Andika. The team plans to return home this week, Syukur said.