The Age
Photo from Nigel Brennan’s Facebook page and (inset) Amanda
Lindhout.

Sunanda Creagh and Glenda Kwek
August 25, 2008

A QUEENSLAND photojournalist suspected of being abducted by Islamic insurgents in Somalia on Saturday is a level-headed, street-smart man who was on a worldwide odyssey as a freelancer, say friends and family.

Bloomberg news service reported that Nigel Brennan and a Canadian journalist, Amanda Lindhout, were kidnapped on Saturday while on a visit to a refugee camp at Elasha, near the Somalian capital of Mogadishu. A Somali translator and two drivers were also seized by the gunmen.

The Somali translator was Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi, according to his brother-in-law Mustafa Haji Abdinur, who is a Mogadishu-based Agence France Press correspondent.

Mr Abdinur said he had been due to work with “Nigel” and Ms Lindhout, but that he was too busy and his brother-in-law took the job instead.

A Muslim rebel group called al-Shabaab has been fighting Somali government forces since early last year, in a conflict marked by mortar attacks and roadside bombings.

Mr Brennan’s mother, Heather, said her son had emailed her from Kenya on Friday.

“He emailed on Friday night and said he took some fantastic photos,” she said.

She was unable to contact him by phone, as he had told her that “communication in Kenya was hit and miss”, but that he was going to buy a mobile SIM card.

Mrs Brennan said her son had travelled with Ms Lindhout through Ethiopia a few years ago. Read More.