Security Council demands release of UN staff

The United Nations Security Council has strongly condemned the abduction by Somalia militias of UN staff and aid workers.

The body has demanded the immediate release of those still being held and that those responsible should be brought to justice.

Council members are calling on all armed Somali groups to ensure the security and safety of all UN staff and employees of international organisations.

The council has issued a statement after a briefing by Assistant Secretary-General Danilo Turk on Tuesday's attack on an aid convoy which was leaving the compound of the relief agency Medecins sans Frontieres in north Mogadishu, the Somali capital.

Five aid workers - three from Medecins sans Frontieres, and two from the UN Children's Fund - managed to escape on Wednesday after being sheltered by a sympathetic businessman.

Two others escaped during the attack, while four were captured by militiamen loyal to the warlord Musa Sude Yalahow, who opposes Somalia's new Government.

Somali militia leader Hussein Aideed - who heads a loose alliance of faction leaders opposed to the new government - promised to release the four captured UN workers once his men were granted safe passage to escort them to the airport in Mogadishu.

The Security Council called on all armed Somali groups "to exercise restraint and to put down their weapons and engage in peaceful dialogue" with Somalia's first national government in almost a decade, which is struggling to re-establish law and order.