Kidnappers Demand $20M or Threaten to Sell Writer to Al-Shabaab
After almost five months of holding kidnapped American/German Michael Scott Moore without results, his kidnappers are getting impatient. Somalia Report has obtained exclusive video footage of Moore filmed by his captors on Friday May 18, 2012. Two local journalists from Galkayo were driven to the spot in a Toyota Hilux blindfolded. One journalist was ordered to videotape the staged event while the other took still photos. His kidnappers have been demanding a ransom but without any luck. The three dozen kidnappers are living under the daily fear of attack by U.S. Special Operations based in nearby Camp Lemonnier.
Mr. Moore went to Somalia in early January of 2012 to write about Somalia and pirates. Now he has a front row seat. He had met a former resident of central Somalia in Germany who had invited him to Galmadug to write about the idea of developing a port to handle World Food Programme deliveries in Hobyo. Moore knew that Somalia was a dangerous place for foreigners having written about the region since 2008. Today Somalia has just under 300 international hostages currently being held for ransom.
Two weeks into his trip he was scheduled to take the African Express flight to Nairobi via Mogadishu. Although the trip to the airport from his hotel in Galkayo didn’t seem that dangerous, the risk factors were there. Western journalists kidnapped by their own or government-provided security guards include Canadian Amanda Lindhout, Australian Nigel Brennan, Brit Colin Freeman and Spaniard José Cendon. Three months earlier Jessica Buchanan and Poul Hagen Thisted had just wrapped up a class on demining safety and were also on the road to the Galkayo airport. They were kidnapped by their security detail who had secretly colluded with pirates.
Assured of security by forces in Galkayo even after that kidnapping, Moore thought he was safe when he left to catch the flight in Galkayo. They lied. His kidnappers knew he was worth much more in ransom than any publicity he would provide on the plight of the Somali people.
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Source: Somalia Report
