Relief Worker Slain in Somalia

MOGADISHU, Somalia — A British relief worker in Somalia was fatally shot Saturday by his own security guards after telling them he was cutting their wages, a U.S. military spokesman said.

Marine Col. Fred Peck said today that Sean Devereux was shot within a U.N. compound in Kismayu. Devereux, 28, was the U.N. Children’s Fund officer in charge in Kismayu, a major port 250 miles southwest of the capital that U.S. Marines and Belgian commandos have occupied since Dec. 20.

He was the second foreigner to be killed in Somalia since U.S.-led forces arrived Dec. 9. An American civilian working for the U.S. Army was killed in the Somali interior when his vehicle hit a mine Dec. 23.

Devereux died on the eve of a three-hour visit to the capital, Mogadishu, by U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.