Somalia: Security Advisors Posing as Journalists

Gunmen from an Islamic faction within President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed’s security forces seized two French security men posing as journalists in Mogadishu.

They then handed the two over to Hizbul Islam insurgents.

A French official denied the two were posing as journalists but French journalist Gregoire Deniau says this is not true. 

[Gregoire Deniau, French Journalist]:
„In Mogadishu people knew that they were not journalists. We have two guys who work for intelligence service kidnapped in a hotel. The abduction was very well carried out. The abductors after entering the hotel went directly to their rooms. It was not improvised.”

Deniau says it is already difficult enough for journalists working in war-torn countries like Somalia to convince interviewees they are genuine.

[Gregoire Deniau, French Journalist]:
„When we are in the field as a journalist it takes hours and hours to convince the guy you are talking to, who most of the time carries a gun, who might be stoned or drunk, that you are a journalist. He is fighting most of the time and assumes you are a spy. This is the only way for us to win their confidence, to make them understand that we are independent, that we are journalists.“

Deniau emphasized the arrest of the two sham journalists will make things more difficult for genuine reporters.

[Gregoire Deniau, French Journalist]:
„It is going to be very complicated. It is going to be more dangerous to go to Somalia now as a journalist. People will assume everyone is a spy. There is nothing more dangerous for a journalist than to be mistaken for a spy. People immediately informed me that they were not journalists — that they were there to negotiate the release of the hostages.“

Senior police official officer Abdiqadir Odweyne says Hizbul Islam is arguing over the Frenchmen’s fate with another militant rebel group, al Shabaab.

Mogadishu is one of the most dangerous cities in the world and has a history of kidnapping foreigners, mainly aid workers and journalists.

Hostages are usually released for ransom.

(NTDTV)