Last Sunday, four people were kidnapped while in Somalia. Two were journalists Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brenan. Brenan, a photojournalist from Australia, was taken hostage with Lindhout of Canada while in the city’s capital, Mogadishu. Along with the pair were Somalian photo journalist and interpreter, Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi and the trio’s driver. According to CNN, the journalists were returning back from interviewing people at a local refugee camp. Little information has been released on why or where the four victims are being held. Officials still do not know if there is a ransom involved or the perpetrators behind the act of intolerance.
Somalia has been in weak condition since 1991 and is in continuous conflict with different ethnic groups. Dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown at this time with the aid of warlords. This act obviously caused disagreements between clans and has kept the country in a constant stage of chaos. Although transitions are taking place in order to stabilize Somalia back into a livable state, issues such as these have caused this notion to remain preventative and impossible. The only known aid to the country’s capital is Ethiopian forces, who invaded Mogadishu in December 2006. Their agenda was to establish a new government in this location due to over a ten year period of near anarchy at their homeland. This event adds to the spiral downfall of ethnic peace and harmony the country of Somalia has been experiencing for close to seventeen years.
Link: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/08/24/somalia.kidnap/index.html
Saturday, August 30, 2008
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