African Union accepts responsibility for Malaysian cameraman’s death

The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) yesterday acknowledged that it was involved in the fatal shooting of Noramfaizul Mohd Nor, a Malaysian cameraman employed by Bernama TV, on 2 September in Mogadishu. Another Malaysian cameraman, Aji Saregar Mazlan of TV3, was slightly injured in the same incident. Apologizing to the families of the victims, the peacekeeping mission said in a statement that an investigation had established that four Burundian peacekeepers were involved in the shooting. The four soldiers have been suspended at the request of a board of enquiry, which has recommended that they be sent home for trial according to Burundi’s military and judicial procedures, the statement added. Reporters Without Borders welcomes the statement, which shows a determination to combat impunity, and urges the African Union to investigate claims that its peacekeepers were also responsible the death of Radio Simba presenter Farah Hassan Sahal, who was shot three times at close range outside the station in Mogadishu on 4 August. Sahal’s murder remains unpunished nearly two months later. ------------ 02.09.2011 Malaysian cameraman shot dead in Mogadishu, another wounded Reporters Without Borders is saddened to learn that Noramfaizul Mohd Nor, a visiting Malaysian cameraman working for Bernama TV, sustained a fatal gunshot injury to the chest today at Mogadishu’s “Kilometre 4” intersection while travelling in a car behind the vehicle of the Malaysian humanitarian organization Putera 1Malasyai Club. It was not immediately clear how Nor came to be shot but his TV station said he was the victim of an insurgent attack on a government truck. Another Malaysian cameraman, Aji Saregar Mazlan of TV3, was slightly injured in the attack. “Nor joins the long list of journalists killed in the course of their work in Somalia, Africa’s deadliest country for media personnel with 23 killed since 2007,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Despite the recent retreat by the Islamist insurgent group Al-Shabaab, the violence and fighting in Mogadishu have not stopped and covering Somalia continues to be extremely dangerous.”