Kidnapped Canadian unlikely to be freed without ransom, group says

DAWN WALTON
Tuesday, February 10, 2009

CALGARY — A Canadian journalist and an Australian photographer held captive for nearly six months in Somalia will likely not be released by their kidnappers unless a ransom is paid, according to an organization monitoring the case.

Leonard Vincent, Africa desk chief of Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, said the “middlemen” involved in negotiations for the release of Amanda Lindhout of Sylvan Lake, Alta. and Brisbane-based Nigel Brennan are getting “angry” at Canadian authorities for treating the situation as if it were a “police case.”

“Obviously, there's some kind of obstruction on the fact that Canadians are sitting on the principle that they don't pay for terrorism, which is something that is crazy because somebody will have to pay,” Mr. Vincent said.

The eventual release of the captives depends on a multitude of factors, he explained.

“There has to be a clan agreement. There has to be a money agreement. There has to be money delivery and then there has to be a scenario of getting out, who does it, who gets the credit, who films it,” he said.

The journalists were snatched near the capital Mogadishu on Aug. 23, 2008, along with their local translator and driver. A demand for $2.5-million (U.S.) was made and a video of the captives released. The captors then issued a death threat with a 15-day deadline.

Last month, the translator was released. The driver has also apparently been let go. A rumour circulated through the Somali Journalists Rights Agency suggests the foreign journalists recently tried to escape, but were recaptured.

“The source is not reliable,” Mr. Vincent said. “This source we know is a bogus organization that is used sometimes to pass messages for various crimes, not only kidnappings.”

Ottawa has declined to talk about the case. “We will not comment or release any information which may compromise ongoing efforts and endanger the safety of the individuals involved,” said Lisa Monette, a spokeswoman with Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Vincent is optimistic that Ms. Lindhout and Mr. Brennan are alive and that the gang that kidnapped them is getting desperate.

“It's starting to cost them a lot,” he said. “They can't just kill them. That would be the end of them all.”

Source: Globe and Mail, Feb 10, 2009