Ukraine and Somalia are exploring ways of rescuing Ukrainians who were captured by Al Shabaab on January 10.
This emerged on Thursday when Ukraine Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro KulebaI spoke with Somalia’s acting Foreign Minister Ali Omar on the phone to discuss the situation regarding the Ukrainian citizens captured in Somalia and ways to resolve it.
Four Ukrainians were among those captured by al-Shabaab in Somalia after their helicopter that was contracted by the UN made an emergency landing in territory controlled by the militants last week.
Al Shabaab militants captured the UN helicopter carrying two Somali men and several foreigners when it made an emergency landing in an area controlled by the Islamist group, according to Major Hassan Ali of the Somalia Armed Forces.
Oleh Nikolenko, spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs ministry on Friday confirmed their citizens were among the helicopter crew of the United Nations Mission in Somalia that crashed.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine confirms the capture of four Ukrainians on the territory of Somalia, controlled by anti-government forces. Our citizens were members of the helicopter crew of the United Nations Mission in Somalia that crashed. Their identities have been identified. Along with the Ukrainians, there were also five foreigners on board,”Nikolenko said on Facebook.
He added that the helicopter belonged to a Ukrainian private company, which had been contracted by the United Nations.
“The Embassy of Ukraine in Kenya and the Permanent Representation of Ukraine to the United Nations in New York have already received urgent instructions from the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine to take the necessary measures: Find out all the details of the crash and capture, the state of Ukrainians, establish a contact with the helicopter owner company for coordination of actions. We are keeping this situation under special control together with other concerned agencies in our state,” he added.
The aircraft encountered a defect shortly after taking off from Beledweyne city in central Somalia before it crash-landed near Hindhere village, bordering Galguduud region.
The UN-contracted helicopter was conducting an air medical evaluation, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia said.
Kuleba also said they agreed to sign a memorandum to establish diplomatic relations at the earliest occasion.
“When this happens, there will not be a single African country with which Ukraine has not established diplomatic relations. We also discussed ways to deepen the cooperation between Ukraine and the African Union,” he said on X.
