Hostage aid workers go on hunger strike

Two aid workers with the French agency Action Against Hunger (ACF) who were taken hostage in the Somali capital Mogadishu last week have begun a hunger strike, the newspaper Ayaamaha reported yesterday.

Two aid workers with the French agency Action Against Hunger (ACF) who were taken hostage in the Somali capital Mogadishu last week have begun a hunger strike, the newspaper Ayaamaha reported yesterday.

Jonathan Ward, aged 31, a British logistics worker, and French administrator Francoise Deutsch, 46, were abducted last Wednesday by around 20 heavily-armed militiamen.

The newspaper said they had been allowed access to a mobile phone to enable them to contact their headquarters and families on Saturday.

Sources close to the militia said there were hopes they might be released soon.