German Nurse Kidnapped in Somalia in 2018 Appears on Video, Appeals for Help

GOOBJOOG NEWS|MOGADISHU: A German nurse who was kidnapped in 2018 in Somalia while working for the International Commission of the red Cross (ICRC) has appeared in a video appealing for help to gain her freedom.

The nurse, named Sonja Nientiet, while dressed in hijab and looking frail, said her health was deteriorating and urged the German government to help secure her release from captivity. “ I was captured on the 2nd of May 2018 while I was working for the ICRC in Mogadishu, so now I have almost spent 7 years in captivity in Somalia,” the visibly traumatized nurse said.

“My health is deteriorating day by day and I am deeply concerned for my safety and for my well-being, so I am addressing this message to the German government, to my fellow citizens, and to my loved ones back home because this is what keeps me going,” she adds in the five-minute video.

Goobjoog News could not establish the veracity of the undated video, which was posted on YouTube on March 26.

Nientietwas kidnapped on the night of May 2, 2018 at the ICRC compound located along Zobe Junction in Mogadishu. According to sources then, the nurse was strolling on the compound when she was picked up by an ICRC security guard later identified by authorities as Mohamud Mohamed Alas and was whisked away. Authorities believed the nurse who had also worked in the DRC was kidnapped by Al-Shabaab.

Her appearance in the video, supposedly released by Al-Shabaab as part of a strategic propaganda messaging campaign, is perhaps the first clear indication of her life since she was kidnapped in 2018.