Amanda Lindhout to speak publicly for first time

 (Alberta, Canada Feb 21,  2010 Ceegaag Online)

Photo of Amanda Lindhout (released December 17, 2009).

Alberta's Somali-Canadian community is holding a dinner Sunday night in Calgary in honour of Alberta journalist Amanda Lindhout. Lindhout was kidnapped while on a freelance assignment in Somali on August 23, 2008.

She was ambushed and taken hostage along with Nigel Brennan, a freelance Australian photojournalist, and Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi, a Somali journalist, as the trio made their way to a refugee camp near Mogadishu.

Elmi was released in January 2008 after spending 146 days in captivity.

Lindhout and Brennan were released on November 25, 2009 after their families were forced to pay ransom to their kidnappers that reportedly was around the half million dollar mark.

Sunday's dinner is being held to allow members of Alberta's Somali-Canadian community to celebrate Lindhout's safe return and to highlight the humanitarian issues in Somalia that Lindhout wanted to expose which they say still remain largely unattended.

Lindhout is expected to address those in attendance by making a brief statement. Lindhout has not spoken publicly since her kidnapping.

Source: Calgary Online

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