Spain: Photographer Kidnapped in Somalia

Madrid, Nov 26 (Prensa Latina) Spanish Foreign Ministry in Madrid confirmed one of the two kidnapped European journalists in Somalia was Spanish photographer Jose Cendon.

An official report explains that Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos is in contact with Spain embassy to Kenya, which also takes care of Somalia’s domestic affairs, and with the government of the self-proclaimed independent State of Puntland.

A report from the Spanish agency EFE says Cendon worked as a photographer for the French agency AFP.

According to a version by the driver of the vehicle in which the reporters were, the other man kidnapped is a British from the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph.

The European professionals were in Somalia to report on the increasing kidnapping of warships that has fueled piracy in Somalia’s waters.

A review published by several media in Madrid indicates that Cendon, of Venezuelan origin, is 32 years old and worked as independent photographer in Colombia, Venezuela, Israel and in the Palestine territories.

Later he worked for the US Agency Associated Press in the Sudanese region of Darfur and then as freelancer for AFP.

Somalia has been immersed in civil conflict for the last 17 years. The government is fighting a two-year-old Islamist insurgency while the chaos has fuelled piracy in Somalia’s waters, bringing foreign warships rushing to the area.

It is one of the world’s most dangerous countries for reporters.

Foreign journalists generally stay out of Somalia, leaving reporting on the ground to local journalists. But a few do still go in, usually hiring local militia to protect them.