Bortolotti is pessimistic about the situation: "I do not think the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be able to do anything …They haven’t been able to do anything in Somalia in the last few years. For years, it has been one of the most devastated countries in the world but no one speaks about that. Probably some ‘big’ people have their interests for the country to remain as it is…" The lack of news raises merely vague assumptions: "We don’t know if it’s an abduction for an exchange of prisoners with some Islamic Court or if they are a minor gang or gangsters of Mogadishu, who would do anything to survive. I don’t even know if it can have anything to do with the previous abductions of the Italian aid-workers". In the village of Ayuub (the local partner of Water for life), people are doing all they can to find news, he explains, "but we don’t know how. As there’s no state, no point of reference…. Where do you go, who do you ask? If they don’t contact us, it will be hard". Tonight, the executives of Water for Life will meet the delegates of the Alexander Langer Award, which should have been given in Bolzano tomorrow to two of the abducted Somali people too, who were taken hostage just as they were going to catch their flight to Italy. "Anyway, the award will be given to Water for life and to the village of Ayuub", confirms Bortolotto. At the ceremony, Mario Raffaelli, special envoy of the Italian government to Somalia, will give a speech.” ” ” “
