The U.N. refugee agency has called on unidentified Somali gunmen who abducted one of its staff in the chaotic Somali capital to immediate release the man.
The U.N. says the abduction of Hassan Mohamed Ali in Mogadishu on Saturday "represented another blow to humanitarian efforts to alleviate the suffering of an estimated 1 million uprooted people inside Somalia."
The U.N. says the motive of the abduction remained unclear.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, on Monday demanded "the immediate and unconditional release " of Ali, the longest-serving UNHCR staff member in Somalia.
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and turned on each other.
