Journalism Research and Random Meanderings

Thursday, February 10, 2005

Reuters AlertNet - SOMALIA: Journalist's killing widely condemned 

Reuters AlertNet - SOMALIA: Journalist's killing widely condemned:

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"Kate Peyton, 39, who was working for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), was shot on Wednesday in front of her hotel as she was getting into a car. She was rushed to a local hospital and died there later, a local journalist who was at the scene at the time told IRIN.

"I don't want to speculate about who killed Kate Peyton, but there are certainly groups who have an interest in painting Mogadishu as a dangerous and unstable city," the director of the International Crisis Group's Horn of Africa Project, Matt Bryden, told IRIN.

"The tragic killing of the BBC journalist, whoever is responsible, plays into the hands of those who want to portray Mogadishu as being unsafe as a seat of government and to justify military intervention," Bryden added."

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"'The UN deplores this senseless killing of an innocent journalist who was interested in improving the image of the country before the international community,' the acting representative of the UN Secretary-General for Somalia, Babafemi Badejo, told IRIN. 'It is unfortunate this killing took place at this time when the TFG is galvanizing the international community on its desire to relocate.'

The UN-appointed independent expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia, Ghanim Alnajjar, said in a statement on Thursday that 'such attacks on media outlets constitute a serious violation of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights'.

'A free and independent press which does not fear any party is a main pillar of any political settlement,' he said.

A veteran journalist, Peyton had worked for the BBC since 1993. She was widely travelled on the African continent."

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Reuters AlertNet is a humanitarian news network based around a popular website. It aims to keep relief professionals and the wider public up-to-date on humanitarian crises around the globe.
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