NAIROBI, Dec 28: The United Nations on Thursday evacuated 14 humanitarian workers from Somalia as Ethiopia-backed government troops entered the capital Mogadishu hours after the Islamists abandoned the city.

Thirteen were non-governmental organisation staff and one works for the World Food Programme, the WFP said.

“A special flight which was requested by non-governmental organisations left (Somali) K-50 airport for Nairobi without incident,” WFP spokesman Peter Smerdon told AFP. WFP runs the UN air services.

The workers were from Kenya, Switzerland, South Korea, America, Norway, Britain and Uganda.

On Wednesday, WFP suspended air operations in Somalia and pulled out its air-support staff as fighting escalated in the lawless Horn of Africa nation, after the government ordered the closure of its air, sea and land borders.

But the agency, which is providing relief to hundreds of thousands affected by flooding, said land operations had not been affected.—AFP