AllAfrica: Somali kidnappers release two journalists

Somali kidnappers release two journalists
Sun, 04 Jan 2009 17:42:18 GMT

British reporter Colin Freeman of The Sunday Telegraph (R) and Spanish freelance photographer Jose Cendon


Somali abductors have released two foreign journalists, who had been kidnapped in the northern port city of Bosasso last November.

Colin Freeman, a correspondent for Britain's Sunday Telegraph, and Spanish freelance photographer Jose Cendon were released on Sunday, local authorities said.

“They treated us well and we are now safe. I am only tired and I am very eager to see my family,” Freeman told Reuters.

The Spanish Foreign Ministry also confirmed Cendon was alive and well. “Mr. Cendon has been freed and is safe and well, the foreign minister has spoken to him and his family,” a spokesman for the ministry said.

Meanwhile, Puntland's security minister, Abdullahi Said Samatar, told Reuters that the release was a result of efforts by local elders.

“The two European journalists were freed without any payment of a ransom,” he said.

Kidnappers in Somalia generally seek ransom payments and seldom harm their hostages. The Horn of Africa country is considered as one of the most dangerous for correspondents.

Freelance journalists Canadian Amanda Lindhout and Aussie Nigel Brennan were seized in the capital Mogadishu last August and are still held captive.

Somalia has been in turmoil since 1991 when warlords toppled the former dictator president Mohammed Siad Barre. Ever since, the Horn of Africa country has been covered with violence and insurgency.

MP/MMN