I spoke with Richard Cuthbertson of the
Calgary Herald about Alberta native,
Amanda Lindhout, a journalist who was kidnapped in Somalia in August 2008.
Cuthbertson's story focuses on the ways that Lindhout's status might be at "a crossroads with the exceedingly fluid political situation in Somalia." Here is the background on the situation that I provided.
"The moderate government will almost be wholly dependent on the international community for assistance, both humanitarian assistance and any development aid that might start going in there," says David Shinn, a former U. S. ambassador to Ethiopia and now an expert on the Horn of Africa at George Washington University in Washington, D. C. ...
"The entrepreneurial Somalis, as opposed to the ideological al-Shabab, they're not interested in making a political point or in harming the person,"Shinn says. "All they want is money. If the person were to die on them . . . they wouldn't get any money, and then they'd really be unhappy."
You can view the entire article
here. Image:
Free Amanda Lindhout.
