BRITONS who have persisted in staying in Somalia have been urged to get out now.
The Foreign Office said there was a "specific threat" identified to Westerners in the territory, known as Somaliland, and they should depart immediately.
UK nationals have been advised for some time to avoid the breakaway territory because of the high threat of criminal and terrorist kidnappings.
A number of individuals with dual nationality are thought to travel there regularly, however, and some aid agencies are also believed to have staff there.
"We are now aware of a specific threat to Westerners in Somaliland, and urge any British nationals who remain there against our advice to leave immediately," the Foreign Office said. "As our travel advice continues to make clear, kidnapping for financial or political gain, motivated by criminality or terrorism, remains a threat throughout Somalia."
Last week, a similar threat was issued for Britons living in the Libyan city of Benghazi after the Foreign Office became aware of a "specific and imminent threat".
Tensions have been especially heightened since the Algerian hostage crisis and French intervention in Mali.
French military action in Mali, which has received British logistical support, has raised the threat of retaliatory strikes on Westerners.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article