Kidnapped Western Journalists in Somalia Freed, Arrive in Kenya; Questions Linger

1) Was their assignment critical? 2) Were they naïve? 3) Will they get book deals out of this mess? 4) Will their ordeal be made into a movie?

[Pictures Credit:  the Jawa Report blog -- Australian Nigel Brennan, left, and Canadian Amanda Lindhout -- a former model and make-up artist, right, in undated photos looking pretty, happy, healthy and possibly quite naïve, taken prior to their '08 abduction.]

[Picture credit:  Canadian-based blogger/still image of video footage obtained by Al Jazeera in July '09 -- Lindhout at left, Brennan at right ... Gunmen are unseen in the background, huddled behind the two.]

DATELINE AT LARGE (DM) -- The pair of lucky Western freelance journalists -- one a writer/reporter and the other a photojournalist -- who were freed in Somalia after a nightmare experience on Wednesday arrived safely at Wilson Airport in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, in a chartered plane on Thursday, according to The Associated Press.

Amanda Lindhout, a Canadian reporter and apparently a former waitress, model and make-up artist prior to becoming a journalist (as reported by the CBC), and Nigel Brennan, an Australian photojournalist who never sold a photo to a major outlet, had arrived in Mogadishu (video), Somalia's apocalyptic and bullet-pocked capital, in August 2008 to report on the plight of hundreds of thousands of displaced Somalis squatting on the city's outer fringes because of fighting between several militarized groups, including Al Shabaab and the Ethiopian Army.

The story has been well reported on over the duration of their captivity (most particularly -- and quite comprehensively, by the journos-at-large cooperative blog/site, Frontline Club). 

However, one question continued to make the rounds in journalist, aid worker and diplomatic circles:  "Did they know what they were getting into?"  The resounding answer, privately, to this question among these circles has been, "No."

It is understood by DM through multiple sources that neither of the pair had been to Mogadishu before.  At the time they undertook the assignment, on a freelance-pitched basis for the Paris-based France 24 English, the country was ratcheting upward off of the danger scale and was considered a no-go zone for most Western aid workers and journalists.  Though one of the two had worked in Iraq and Afghanistan before (Lindhout), for example, they were apparently unprepared for dealing with the second-by-second, anything-can-happen-at-anytime atmosphere of the chaotic Horn of Africa nation, especially its seaside capital city.

At the onset of their capture by the kidnappers, the rumor mill in Nairobi centered on the potential recklessness of the pair's decision to go to Mogadishu with no prior experience there and no emergency parachute to take advantage of, as most staff correspondents and shooters with the major newspapers and wire services have, in terms of cash and clout.  Although that doesn't always mean much, as was the case with veterans Colin Freeman and Jose Cendon, who were held for 40 days while on assignment for the English newspaper, The Daily Telegraph.

When reporting in Somalia today, journalists require heavy backing by their representative news outlet and CASH -- lots of it.  The money is needed to hire a virtual Guns-of-Navarone security detail, mostly freelance guns for hire.  (Check out this April '09 piece in Foreign Policy magazine by New York Times East Africa correspondent/bureau chief Jeffrey Gettleman, headlined 'The Most Dangerous Place in the World.')

In somewhat the same fashion as the two Current TV reporters, who admitted wrongdoing in their decision to cross the border from China into North Korea and ignored the warnings, Lindhout and Brennan pushed forward, thinking they wouldn't be one of the Western-journalist casualties, like veteran journos of Somalia Hansi Krauss, Kate Peyton, Martin Adler (picture), and many more ... not to mention the Somali journalists who have paid the ultimate price in performing their duties.

[Check out these two guys -- Western freelance "journalists" -- who sold a larger video piece to Current TV, but cut out a "side" project on how easy it is to buy guns in Mogadishu (DM editorial note:  these guys represent what not to do in Mogadishu)... and by the way, Euna Lee, one of the two Current TV gals who had to be saved by Clinton, has signed a book deal, beating her co-captivity partner to the punch.]

But there was no Billy Boy Clinton coming to Lindhout's and Brennan's rescue -- no big-wig former prime ministers or leaders from their countries stepped up to the plate to make the public attempt to free them.  In fact, the Australian and Canadian embassies in Nairobi were coming under increasing pressure to do something about the situation, as were their leaders in Ottawa and Canberra.

Then, out of the blue, some people came to Lindhout's and Brennan's rescue.  Various reports, yet to be truly confirmed, say that something between $500,000 to $1 million ransom was paid for the pair's release.  (Now it's come out that the parents of both Brennan and Lindhout may have borrowed money and took loans against their homes to reach the amount needed to bail the pair out of their debacle, in addition to the kindness of an Australian millionaire.)

For the moment, the two can get healthy again, and find a publisher to tell sell their harrowing-and-daring story to for a six-figure advance payday!  Good luck, Ms. Lindhout and Mr. Brennan.

DM caveat:  It could have happened to anyone, really, but freelancers are at particular risk.  Somalia is in a state of anarchy and until its problems are addressed, on land, rather than at sea, it will remain the case study and poster child of failed states (FP magazine lists it as #1 in the world in their 2009 index). 

UPDATE, November 30, 9:12 am:  The New York Times and The Star (Toronto) have also written pieces similar to the post above by DM, published today and yesterday, respectively.

Drifter Media/IRIN/NYT: Somalia's chaos deepens

[Picture credit: Provided anonymously to Drifter Media's 'Intelligence Unit' by a source in Mogadishu, Somalia.  Photo of al-Shabaab rebels taken several weeks ago.]

The New York Times brings us a story about how the U.S. is delaying Somali-bound food aid to the United Nations' World Food Program, who handles the logistics and distribution of the aid on the ground in Somalia.  The U.N.'s humanitarian news agency, IRIN, stands the Times story on its head with regard to relief-worker alarm over donor caution on aid to Somalia here.

The U.N. has been hamstrung by surly Somali contractors the U.S. says are channeling some food aid to the Islamist terrorist group, al Shabaab, (Al Jazeera English video piece here from Mohammed Adow about Kenyan recruitment to fight al Shabaab), who have been fighting to take over Somalia from the weak, U.N.-backed transitional government in Mogadishu.

Meanwhile, millions of Somalis in urgent need are suffering and are being left in the lurch.  And on top of that, Somalia is the most dangerous place to work in the world for aid workers like U.N. staff.  An estimated 40 percent of aid workers killed in the world last year died in Somalia while trying to help the needy (2009; 2008).

Jeffrey Gettleman's story from Friday can be read here, but Drifter Media's 'Intelligence Unit' has gained some more knowledge on the fiasco via a UN source working in East Africa.

According to the Drifter Media source in Kenya, who works in Somalia and spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak officially, current food rations are only sustainable to December, and that's when the aid tap for WFP will run dry without U.S./donor help.

"Right now the pipeline of food will break off in early December if the Americans don't release the food," the source told Drifter Media by email. "That said, current rations have been cut in half in many places within Somalia to make the current food stocks stretch as far as possible."

According to Mr. Gettleman of the Times: "The United States has played a huge role in saving lives by supplying about 40 percent of the $850 million annual aid budget for Somalia. But that aid is often only loosely monitored at best once it enters the country because of the dangers of working in Somalia and the fact that so much of it is a no-go zone for foreigners."

Peter Smerdon, a spokesman for the World Food Program's effort in East Africa and Somalia, said the U.S. "is traditionally W.F.P.’s largest single donor," according to Mr. Gettleman's piece.

Separately, as for the splintering leadership within al Shabaab, according to the D.M. source:  "There is some infighting within Shabaab ... moderate Muktar Robow is coming out with more hard-line talk.  Robow has not previously advocated the kind of hard-line Islam the hardliners want and have been implementing -- i.e., stoning people, attacking aid groups and their workers, killing barbers for shaving beards, or whipping bra-wearing women for 'deceiving men.' He says al Shabaab will support the fight against Israel, etc, which is earning him some of the support of the extremists within the Shabaab leadership.  This is helping him to have his way in Shabaab's decision making without really committing himself to insane tactics in Somalia."

As for al Shabaab's rivalries, says the source:  "Fighting between Hezbul Islam and al Shabaab continues. Part of the reason for the rivalry between the two terrorist groups is that Shabaab and Hezbul are both broke, so the stealing and pilfering of U.N. food aid, and hostage taking, are likely to continue."

So, overall, the U.S. needs to either pull al Shabaab off their list of terror groups, as the State Department has labeled them and which legally prevents the U.S. from releasing the food stocks sitting in Mombasa, Kenya, or the U.S. government needs to overlook that technicality in order to prevent a catastrophe from worsening in the only anarchic nation on the planet -- Somalia.