Foreign Correspondent Margot Kiser
Letters to Annie from Kaftanistan
She asked her captors where they were taking her, and wondered whether they were headed toward Mombasa, farther down the Kenyan coast. But the man running the engine—the Navigator, who had offered her a pair of trousers for warmth—said, “Somalia.”
“It is highly unlikely that kidnappers will strike again at tourist areas on Kenya’s north coast,” says Major Emmanual Chirchir, former spokesman during Operation Linda Nchi, Kenya’s military campaign in Somalia to fight Al Shabaab. “But towns and refugee camps like Dadaab near the porous Kenya-Somali border in the northeast remain vulnerable.”
I gave what I’m told was a great presentation about Somali piracy and “ruthless tactics of tourist kidnaps” at this anti-piracy conference held this time in Brussels. Hope to share with the experts what happened to our community, how will military forces better protect international waters, as well as get an idea of what security […]
Judith Tebbutt is home — but how free? The dilemma of ransom payments Mar 30, 2012 4:45 AM EDT Ransom amounts keep growing, rescues are rare. What’s a captive’s family supposed to do? Margot Kiser on a truly vicious cycle. With her recent release from captivity, Judith Tebbutt may soon be able to close a […]
Mar 21, 2012 3:44 PM EDT Margot Kiser reports from Nairobi on the successful ransom of British citizen Judith Tebbutt. On Tuesday afternoon, in the small inland Somali town of Adado, law enforcement officials gazed skyward as a single-engine aircraft circled close overhead. The plane—a U.K.-owned KingAir 200 operated by the British company Phoenix […]
My article on Somaliland’s prison for pirates in Hargeisa (pictured below) has been published online by Chonjo Magazine. Check it out here and let me know what you think.
