By Mohamed Ali Bile
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – The leader of Somalia’s newly powerful Islamists expressed his condolences on Saturday to the family of a Swedish cameraman shot dead during a rally in Mogadishu and promised to catch his killer.
Martin Adler was shot dead at the front of a crowd of thousands while filming a protest led by the ICU on Friday.
“The Islamic courts are very sorry for the killing and we send our condolences to the family and colleagues,” Ahmed told a news conference.
“We will find those who are responsible for the killing.”
Islamist militia took Mogadishu on June 5 from secular warlords, widely believed to be backed by the United States, and advanced into the hinterland.
“The events of yesterday were by those who are trying to sabotage the development of Mogadishu,” Ahmed said, adding that a new security office for journalists would be set up.
Adler, a prize-winning freelance cameraman who covered more than two dozen wars zones in his career, was of Anglo-Swedish origin and was married with two daughters. An ICU official said his body was being flown to neighbouring Kenya on Saturday.
Nairobi-based ICU spokesman Abdurahman Ali Osman on Friday blamed his death on followers of a lesser-known warlord, Abdi Awale Qaybdiid, who stayed in Mogadishu despite the Islamists’ takeover.
But on Saturday, he said this was not certain, adding that a woman arrested on Friday was still being questioned.
The ICU leadership has made strenuous efforts to present a moderate image — including by inviting Western journalists to Mogadishu — to offset accusations from some quarters that it harbours al-Qaeda linked extremists.
Friday’s shooting — at least the 10th killing of a foreign journalist in Somalia since 1991 — dealt a blow to the ICU, who say its sharia courts have brought peace and order. It also highlights the difficulties of taming a city awash with weapons.
The attack came hours after the Islamists and the interim government signed a deal in Khartoum on Thursday aimed at preventing confrontation and starting negotiations.
The Islamists have effectively flanked the government’s base in the provincial town of Baidoa, raising fears Ethiopia may intervene to protect the administration and spark new conflict.
The government — the 14th attempt at central rule since the 1991 ousting of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre — is too weak to move to Mogadishu.
Local Swedish media quoted Olof Brundin, information chief for daily Aftonbladet, which often employed Adler, as saying: “Our thoughts go out to his family. This is a terrible shock.”
Source: Reuters, June 24, 2006
