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| If you are not a journalist, do not claim to be one |
The kidnapping of the two French nationals in Somalia this week highlights the complicated situation in the country. Suhufi Hotel is right at the heart of the government-controlled area and was supposedly safe. Though when I was in Mogadishu in May, I was advised not to stay there. In general. I would say there is no safe place in southern Somalia for Westerners to operate. They could be kidnapped for political or financial purposes.
However, what I am more concerned is that the two French men apparently checked-in as journalists rather than ‘security advisers’. On this, I am in line with the International News Safety Institute (INSI), which while sympathising with the men and their families, "we are dismayed by reports they were posing as journalists. This directly affects the safety of all journalists in Somalia -- currently the most dangerous country in the world for the news media -- and elsewhere,"
As a Somali journalist who often travels to the country, I think I understand more than most. Many journalists have been killed for allegedly spying for the West. Jeekey, a good friend of mine, cheated death after five days in captivity in June. The kidnappers suspected that he was working with ‘their enemy’ especially for Western governments. Of course, he wasn’t and he is a hard-working journalist trying to cover the conflict in Somalia in a fair and balanced way under a difficulty circumstance.
Personally, when dealing with Somalis, I struggle to convince them that I am a journalist. And the action of the French men indicates what Somalis in particular the Islamists fear that: ‘journalists are spies’. |
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