Anne McLoughlin, Irish

aid worker Humanitarian aid is material and logistic assistance, usually in the short-term, to people in need. Among the people in need are the homeless, refugees, and victims of natural disasters, wars, and famines. The primary objective of humanitarian a ...

and hostage, born c. 1960.

Background

A native of Coolebeg, Cloontuskert,

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

, McLoughlin was the centre of an international event when she was taken hostage in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

in 1984. She had been working with ''Concern'' (now

Concern Worldwide Concern Worldwide (often referred to as Concern) is Ireland's largest aid and humanitarian agency. Since its foundation in 1968 it has worked in 50 countries. According to its latest annual report, Concern helped 28.6 million of the world's poor ...

) at

Korem Korem ( Tigrinya: ኮረም) (alternative forms include Ofla, Kworem, Quoram) is a town and separate woreda in Tigray, Ethiopia. Located on the eastern edge of the Ethiopian highlands in the Southern Zone of the Tigray Region, this town has a lat ...

since November 1983, as an administrator of aid to Somali refugees of local wars. In a message recorded prior to her kidnapping, she stated that:

"The people are absolutely starving. I find it hard to describe the poverty in Korem and Ethiopia. There are people lying in their own
diarrhoea Diarrhea (American English), also spelled diarrhoea or diarrhœa (British English), is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements in a day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration d ...
with all sorts of diseases like
malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...
,
dysentery Dysentery ( , ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications may include dehyd ...
,
typhoid Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often ther ...
, relapsing fever and the babies suffer from
hypothermia Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe ...
because of the extreme night and day temperatures. Complete families are suffering from the drought here."

TPLF attack and capture

On Wednesday 21 April 1984 the

Tigrayan People's Liberation Front The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF; ), also known as the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, is a left-wing ethnic nationalist, paramilitary group, and the former ruling party of Ethiopia. It was classified as a terrorist organization ...

attacked Korem. Two of the heavily armed guerrillas seized McLoughlin and the other volunteers. They were forced to walk over the mountains or ride mules till they reached the militants' camp. They were held in captivity in extremely primitive conditions, surviving on very sparse meals. However, the

Tigrayan The Tigrayan people (, ''Təgaru'') are a Semitic-speaking ethnic group indigenous to the Tigray Region of northern Ethiopia. They speak the Tigrinya language, an Afroasiatic language belonging to the Ethiopian Semitic branch. The daily life ...

had not intended to harm the volunteers, their purpose being to bring world attention to the famine.

Release and later life

On 1 May they began the long journey down from the mountains. They again crossed several rivers and were anxious at the constant fear of being attacked and shot by other militant elements. They arrived in

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum is the capital city of Sudan as well as Khartoum State. With an estimated population of 7.1 million people, Greater Khartoum is the largest urban area in Sudan. Khartoum is located at the confluence of the White Nile – flo ...

where they were greeted by Concern's field director. They had been in captivity for forty-nine days. McLoughlin later worked as a teacher in

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

, where she met James O'Loughlin of

Ballinrobe Ballinrobe () is a town in County Mayo in Ireland. It is located on the River Robe, which empties into Lough Mask two kilometres to the west. As of the 2022 census, the population was 3,148. The town is in a civil parish of the same name. Hist ...

, and later married. She subsequently moved to

Ennis Ennis ( , meaning 'island' or 'river meadow') is the county town of County Clare, in the mid-west of Ireland. The town lies on the River Fergus, north of where the river widens and enters the Shannon Estuary. Ennis is the largest town in Cou ...

County Clare County Clare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern part of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council ...

References

''The Parish of Clontuskert - Glimpses into its Past'', 2009, pp. 325–327
{{DEFAULTSORT:McLoughlin, Anne People from County Galway Irish people taken hostage Living people 1960 births