I’m taking a brief hiatus until the end of the month, but in the interim thought I’d invoke the spirit of history. As this week ushers in change in the United States with a new President, I cannot help but think back on another eventful inauguration week, in 1981. As Ronald Reagan took office, a group of hostages who had been taken at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 were freed after 444 days in captivity. Here in this clip (mislabelled as Reagan’s speech, but actually it’s from one of the hostages) we can listen to the testimony and emotions associated with freedom. See you in February!
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, has made headlines again this week as a Romanian sailor was kidnapped during the seizure of an oil tanker. Gunmen attacked the vessel outside of Port Harcourt and inflicted heavy damage on the ship, which belonged to sub-contractors to the oil firm Shell. Sources say more than 200 hostages have been taken in the region since 2006.
–The military of Nigeria has denied claims from the militant group MEND that it botched an attempt to rescue two British hostages in the Niger Delta. A spokesperson from MEND asserted that the failed rescue has led MEND deeper into the area they control, where they have separated the hostages.
–A German engineer abducted in Yemen over the weekend has been freed. Tribesmen seized the man and two Yemenis as a means to negotiate for the release of jailed fellow tribesmen, a common excuse for kidnapping in the region.
–Rights groups are calling out for justice in the recent killing of a civil rights lawyer who was shot dead on a Moscow street. Stanislav Markelov represented activists who sought reparations for abuses perpetrated by the Russian military, including victims of hostage-taking.
Militants holding three International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) staff hostage in the jungles on Jolo island in the southern Philippines are asking for five million dollars in exchange for their captives. The hostages were able to call colleagues and state that they were unharmed. The ICRC has said it will continue operations in the region, where it assists displaced persons with accessing food and other essentials.
The Philippine Commission on Human Rights, meanwhile, has condemned the kidnapping and reminded the government that it must not violate human rights or cause injury to civilians in any rescue attempt.
Human Rights Watch this week released its World Report 2009, a compendium of human rights issues from around the globe. If one looks specifically at the crime of hostage-taking, the practice was prevalent across many continents. Afghanistan, Bolivia, Colombia, DR Congo, Haiti, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Nigeria, the Philippines, Russia, Somalia, Thailand and Yemen were among those countries cited as having numerous kidnappings in the past year. Some examples include the following:
In Haiti, some 157 persons were abducted in the first half of 2008 (or, on average, one per day).
In one month alone (February) the Lord’s Resistance Army kidnapped 100 people in the countries of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and Sudan.
In Somalia, 24 aid workers were kidnapped between January and November 2008.
On a more positive note, Argentina was credited with convicting past perpetrators who committed acts of kidnapping and torture.
Three employees of the International Committee for the Red Cross were abducted as they made their way to Jolo airport in the southern Philippines today. The three – an Italian, Filipino and Swiss national – were conducting prison visits as part of a water and sanitation project when they were seized by alleged Abu Sayyaf Group members.
Two guerrillas belonging to FARC’s 26th Front deserted the rebel group, bringing two hostages with them to freedom. The hostages – a man and 14-year-old boy – were kidnapped in separate incidents last month.
As he accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom from George W. Bush, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe reiterated his call for more guerrillas to lay down their arms and embrace peace. “If they turn in the hostages,” Uribe told reporters, “the government will seek not to give them a pardon, full amnesty, but provisional amnesty as a reward.” Approximately 3,500 persons deserted FARC last year; however, the majority of the 2,800 persons who remain in captivity are in the hands of other paramilitary/rebel groups.
Forty-five persons were kidnapped in the North Caucasus in 2008, writes Kavkazy Uzel, thus illustrating how Russian claims that extremism and human rights abuses have ceased in the region are far from accurate. To get a more comprehensive picture of how this plays out for average citizens, don’t miss this powerful video from Memorial cross-posted on both YouTube and WITNESS (a hub for human rights media), which profiles some of the 3,000 abducted and missing Chechens since 1999:
Two Britons taken hostage by MEND (the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta) appeared unharmed in a picture released today by their kidnappers. MEND said that Robin Hughes and Matthew Maguire, who were seized in September whilst aboard an oil vessel, would only be freed once the Nigerian government releases Henry Okah, detained on charges of arms trafficking.
In a statement that accompanied the transmission, a MEND spokesperson threatened that kidnapping of Western oil workers will continue until the oil wealth flows back to the poor communities along the Delta region.
Pirates who took a Saudi oil tanker and its crew hostage several months ago released the vessel after receiving a $3 million ransom. The incident ended safely for the hostages on board the Sirius Star, including two Britons, but not for the pirates – a getaway boat they took off in capsized and led to several of the pirates drowning.
In the same region, Somali kidnappers freed two aid workers who were seized in September. The Dutch man and Japanese woman worked for Doctors of the World in a remote region of Ethiopia near the Somali border when they were taken by rebels. The two are in good condition and little is known about what prompted their release, including whether a ransom was paid.
Posted by radiocaptivity 
Posted by radiocaptivity 
Posted by radiocaptivity 
