World

Gunmen Fire Shots At U.N. Plane

March 30, 2000 / 5:15 PM EST / AP

March 30, 2000 - The United Nations halted all operations in Somalia on Thursday after gunmen shot at one of its aircraft.

The unidentified gunmen opened fire with AK-47 assault rifles on the single-engine nine-seat Caravan as it rolled down the runway for takeoff from Kismayo airport in southern Somalia, the U.N. office in Nairobi said in a statement.

Neither the pilot nor the three passengers were injured when a bullet entered the left side of the aircraft and lodged in a seat. Another bullet passed through the aircraft's body between the cabin and tail sections.

Kismayo - 280 miles south of the Somali capital Mogadishu - has been the scene of sporadic clan-based fighting for the past several years.

“We are fortunate that no one was killed, and that no one was in the seat where the bullet lodged,” Kevin Farrell, acting U.N. coordinator for Somalia, said in announcing an indefinite halt to all U.N. operations.

“The gunmen could have seriously damaged the aircraft and caused a terrible crash.”

The incident occurred a day after UNICEF's Somalia representative visited Kismayo to explore the possibility of resuming humanitarian work in the area.

Farrell declared Kismayo off-limits for all U.N. operations until the identities of the attackers become clear and until the threat has been removed.

The United Nations, the European Union and numerous private non-governmental organizations are conducting a variety of relief and small development programs in Somalia. But they rarely station non-Somali personnel in the country because of insecurity and the threat of kidnappings. Most are based in neighboring Kenya.

Somalia has not had a functioning central government since President Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted by rivals in January 1991 and the country was plunged into clan-based warfare.