A British United Nations worker and his French colleague shot dead at an airport in Somalia have been named by the UN.
Simon Davis, 57, and Clement Gorrissen, 28, were killed when a gunman opened fire on them as they were about to go through immigration at Galkayo Airport in the Puntland region of the country, the UN said.
The men, who worked for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), often worked together and were on a mission in Somalia to offer technical advice and help build on work in the field of ” illicit money flows”, the organisation said.
Mr Davis and Mr Gorrissen, who were yesterday described as ” irreplaceable” had only just disembarked from a flight from the Somali city of Hargeisa and were about the go through immigration when the gunman opened fire, the UNODC said.
UK citizen Mr Davis was described as having had a “long and distinguished career” in the Metropolitan Police Force, specialising in tracking financial movements, before he joined the UNODC in 2012.
The 57-year-old had also worked closely with the British Government in the then-evolving area of piracy.
In a statement, the UK said he had played an “outstanding role” in establishing a dialogue with the business community in Somalia as well as in the UK, and had also used his experience as a police officer to provide training in the Horn of Africa to law enforcement officials.
French citizen Clement Gorrissen first worked for UNODC in 2010 as part of the Global Programme against Money Laundering, Proceeds of Crime and the Financing of Terrorism (GPML) and had helped to develop and coordinate UNODC’s activities in the Horn of Africa. In May 2011 he undertook research as part of UNODC’s work for the group focusing on illicit money flows for the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia and was a key contributor to the book Pirate Trails: Tracking the Illicit Financial Flows From Pirate Activities off the Horn of Africa.
UNODC executive director Yury Fedotov said the pair were “deeply committed to the United Nations’ cause and its vision of delivering beneficial change to people and communities in a difficult and complex world”.
Foreign Secretary William Hague has called for an urgent investigation into the murders.