TRAVEL ADVISORY To avoid any incident similar to that which occurred on 16 June 2002 involving the hostage-taking of 23 Filipino seamen aboard a merchant vessel plying the coast of Northeast Somalia, and in view of the unstable security environment in the whole of Somalia, the Department of Foreign Affairs hereby advises all Filipinos to avoid travelling to Somalia until their security and safety can be reasonably assured. Citing reports from the United Nations Operations in Somalia, the UN Security Office and the United Nations Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS), the Philippine Embassy in Nairobi has advised the Department of the following: 1. In recent months, Somalia has been experiencing an escalation of violence, particularly in the capital of Mogadishu and also in Gedo, which has cost many civilian lives and resulted in the worsening of the humanitarian crisis; 2. In the northeast zone (NEZ), where the hostage incident involving 23 Filipino seamen took place in June, there is continuing insecurity and tension. Even the United Nations and other International Non-Government Organizations (INGO) have been denied access to the area by the Puntland Administration. International staff of the UN, the European Union and international NGOs remain relocated in Nairobi and Hargeisa; According to the UN Security Office based in Somalia and the UNPOS in Nairobi, the coast and other nearby areas in the northeast zone (NEZ) has the uncanny reputation of "hosting" the biggest number of pirates in the world, a fact known to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and owners of marine fleets and vessels; 3. Clan and sub-clan factions and sporadic armed clashes continue to be the order of the day in all regions of Somalia, namely: the northwest zone (NWZ), northeast zone (NEZ), Central Zone, South Zone, Kismayo Special Zone, and Mogadishu Special Zone; 4. In the Central Zone, tension continues between Abgal sub-clans. Bandits prowl in lower Shebelle in the Southern Zone, and there has been fighting in Baidoa that recently disrupted United Nations operations. In Mogadishu, incidents of kidnapping have risen sharply. Overall, the current security remains unstable in all the regions of Somalia.
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