CANADA/POLITICS - A year ago today Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout and two colleagues were kidnapped at gunpoint in Somalia, near Mogadishu. Since then she has escaped, been recaptured, raped, tortured, escaped again and recaptured again.Meanwhile Stephen Harper's government has been powerless to rescue this Canadian and bring her back to Canada.
Her ransom (combined with Australian reporter Nigel Brennan) was originally $2.5 million USD, but the price has been lowered numerous times since then. One of the other journalists captured with her was released back in January following a successful exchange.
Australia has been making efforts to pay for Brennan's ransom, but what is Stephen Harper's government doing? Nothing. And because the Somali kidnappers want both paid for at the same time, they have remained in captivity.
The other problem is that Amanda Lindhout is a freelance journalist, and thus no individual newspaper or news station has taken responsibility for trying to rescue her. She's been over there for a year and the only people trying to negotiate for her release is her family.
So instead she remains in limbo because the Canadian government is doing nothing to negotiate her release.
NOTE: Canada, the United States and numerous other western countries dump toxic and nuclear waste in Somalia. The country has been without an official government since 1991 and has been basically living in anarchy since then. Their local economy has collapsed and crime is rampant, hence all the kidnappings and piracy.
Because Somalia has no government it makes it an ideal dumping ground for toxic and nuclear waste since there's no government to complain about it.
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