Two French government security advisors who were abducted in Mogadishu Tuesday morning had been posing as journalists. Gunmen abducted them from the Sahafi Hotel, located in the safest part of the capital. No group has so far claimed responsibility for their abduction.
“Being a journalist is not a cover, it is a profession,” Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) reacted. “We hope these two advisors are freed quickly but we are shocked that they were passing themselves off as journalists. They were on an official mission and had no need of cover. Their behaviour endangers journalists in a region where media personnel are already in danger.”
The two advisors, who had only recently arrived in Mogadishu, had been sent by the French government’s General Directorate for External Security (DGSE) to provide security advice to the transitional government headed by President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed.
Africa’s deadliest country for the news media, Somalia was ranked 153rd out of 173 countries in the 2008 RSF press freedom index. Abductions of journalists and humanitarian aid workers are now common in Somalia.
Canadian reporter Amanda Lindhout and Australian photographer Nigel Brennan are still being held hostage since they were abducted near Mogadishu on August 23, 2008. Five journalists have been killed in Somalia since the start of the year.
