(RSF/IFEX) – On 24 October 2004, Zamzam Abdullahi Abdi, a member of the Somalia Women Journalists Association’s (Sowja) governing board, was abducted and detained overnight by unidentified armed individuals in Mogadishu before being released on 25 October. “We welcome the fact that Abdi was released safe and sound, but her abduction reinforces the urgent need […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 24 October 2004, Zamzam Abdullahi Abdi, a member of the Somalia Women Journalists Association’s (Sowja) governing board, was abducted and detained overnight by unidentified armed individuals in Mogadishu before being released on 25 October.
“We welcome the fact that Abdi was released safe and sound, but her abduction reinforces the urgent need to rebuild a state in Somalia. We call on President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, as part of his new duties, to do justice to press freedom activists like her by heeding their struggle and their message,” RSF said.
RSF said there was no justification for the use of violence or threats against Abdi, who honoured her country by defending not only press freedom in a climate of anarchy, but also women and children whose situation is often precarious in Somalia.
The organisation learned from sources in Mogadishu that two men and a woman armed with AK-47s and a pistol forced Abdi into a car near the Bakaraa market at about 5:00 p.m. (local time) on 24 October, blindfolded her and took her to an undisclosed location in Mogadishu. At one point during her abduction, she was able to briefly speak to her husband by telephone and explain what had happened. Abdi was released at around 8:00 a.m. on 25 October.
The exact motives for the kidnapping are unknown. “I think I was abducted on account of my activities in defence of children, because my kidnappers told me stop talking about children’s rights,” Abdi told the Somali Journalist Network (Sojon), a local press freedom group.
In addition to being a Sowja member, Abdi is also the deputy head of COGWA, a Somali women’s group, and the local representative of the African Network for the Prevention and Protection of Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN), based in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. Married and the mother of a girl, she has both Somali and Kenyan nationality.
The kidnapping of civilians is common in Somalia, where militiamen carry out abduction “contracts” for US$200.
