Somalia:ASOJ worries about situation of 2 foreign journalists being held in the capital

Mogadishu 26 Fabaury 2009
 
Associated Somali Journalists (ASOJ) is concerning about the conditions of two foreign journalists still being held as hostages in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia
 
“we are receiving facts A Canadian journalist and an Australian photographer that are still being held in Mogadishu taken each night to different villages in the city and what we known is that one of them gone hungry strike, therefore we are appealing to the Somali journalists to stand up for how they could free the foreign journalists from the kidnappers,” said in a statement issued from the ASOJ office in Mogadishu on 26 February 2009.
 
ASOJ says it is shameful that the local media in Mogadishu keep silence about the kidnapping of foreign journalists. It suggests to put pressure on the kidnappers until they release the reporters unconditionally.
 
“ASOJ is confirming that the two foreign journalists is being held in Huriwa neighborhood in north of Mogadishu where it is under the control of the warlord Yusuf Mohamed Siad Indha-Adde,” the statement said calling for Indha-Adde to honestly help release the journalists.
 
The Association lastly asked for the Hawiye clan elders to stand for the safety of foreign journalists from the hands of the gangs.
 
The journalists were kidnapped between the Afgoye district and the capital city with their Somali photojournalist, Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi, who was acting as a translator for the two August 2008 by unknown militiamen.
 
They had been returning from interviewing locals in the Afgoye district when they were abducted.
Abdifitah later was released after months of been held as hostage.