Writer meets Somali quartet

BY HOWARD JONES

KIDNAP victim Nigel Brennan yesterday met four Somali refugees who come from the country where he was held in captivity for 15 months.
Mr Brennan, 39, is on the Border to speak at the Write Around the Murray Festival in Albury tonight, but he was keen to first meet the refugees who now live in Albury and work at the Wodonga meatworks.

The photo-journalist from Bundaberg was seized with Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout near Mogadishu in 2008 and freed only when a ransom of $650,000 was paid.

But Mr Brennan said the overall cost was probably more like $1.2 million and he still owes the federal government $100,000 for a loan as well as an aunt $125,000 and other relatives and friends other amounts.

The government refused to pay a ransom or facilitate a deal and it was left to the pair’s families and others such as Dick Smith who finally achieved their release from dangerous conditions, including more than a year in isolation.

Mr Brennan said he was grateful to Greens Leader Bob Brown who gave $100,000 from his own pocket.

Refugee Osama Shuga said the meatworks workers were among Somalis who had come to Australia at different times from country torn by war, drought and famine.

Since coming home, Mr Brennan has travelled widely talking about his experiences and wrote a book The Price of Life with his sister Nichole Bonney and sister-in-law Kellie Brennan.

“I’d like to go back to Africa but I’m not in any rush to go back to Somalia,’’ he said.

He doesn’t feel any hatred towards the country or his captors and understands the desperate poverty that had led to the situation in which people are held for ransom.

He still lives in Bundaberg and is in demand not only as a speaker but as an adviser to media organisations on how staff can handle dangerous situations caused by political unrest.

His talk at the Albury Performing Arts Centre tonight starts at 6pm and admission is by gold coin donation.

Source: The Border Mail