A senior German aid worker was murdered in the self-declared republic of Somaliland on Tuesday, officials and witnesses said.

They said Peter Kransmann, who worked for the German Agency for Technological Cooperation (Gesellschaft fuer Technische Zusammenarbeit, GTZ) was stabbed in the throat as he sat in his car with a female colleague outside the Gabahaddi Hotel in Burao.

His alleged murderer -- said by local authorities to be mentally deranged -- was immediately arrested.

Authorities said there was no motive for the murder -- the first of a foreigner in Somaliland. In Nairobi, a German embassy official said they had learnt of the incident but had no further details.

Somaliland broke away from the rest of Somalia in 1996, but its independence is not recognised by anyone else. GTZ has only recently returned to Somaliland following the kidnapping -- but later release -- of its mission head in 1996.

The agency is chiefly involved in water development projects.

Previous News

May News
April News
March News
February News
January News