A union that represents Canadian journalists has joined an international effort to win the release of a Central Alberta journalist and two colleagues who were kidnapped in Somalia last weekend.

Amanda Lindhout is a freelance contributor to the Red Deer Advocate, where the editorial department is represented by the Media and Communications Workers of Alberta (CWA Canada Local 30400).

Jack Wilson, an Advocate reporter and president of the union local, says that while Lindhout as a freelancer is not a member of the union, all of her colleagues at the daily newspaper are very concerned about her.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called for the release of the three freelance journalists — Lindhout, Australian Nigel Brennan and Somali Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi and their driver, only named as Mahad. They were abducted on Saturday near the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

“This shocking incident underscores the terrible dangers and threats that continue to face journalists in Somalia,” said Gabriel Baglo, the director of the IFJ Africa office. “We call for them to be set free immediately. The Somali authorities must act urgently to see our colleagues come to no harm.”

Lindhout, 27, of Sylvan Lake, is a Baghdad-based journalist who has had significant experience reporting from the world’s trouble spots, including Iraq and Afghanistan. Currently touring Africa, she arrived in Somalia on Sept. 20 with Brennan, 37.

According to IFJ’s affiliate, the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), Lindhout and Brennan, a longtime friend, were abducted as they travelled to Afgoye, 25 km from Mogadishu, to visit camps for refugees. Elmi was helping them as translator.

The union says that no claim has yet been made and the kidnappers have not been identified, which has added to concerns. “We are worried about their safety as we have had no contact with anybody saying they are holding the journalists and their driver,” said Omar Faruk Osman, the secretary general of NUSOJ.

In an e-mail exchange with CWA Canada director Arnold Amber, Osman said his group has “contacted all warring sides . . . (but) they are all giving us an answer that they are not responsible for the kidnapping.”

Osman told Amber that it wasn’t yet clear whether the abduction was for political or financial purposes. He noted that two Italian humanitarian aid workers who were kidnapped recently by a militia group were released after a ransom of US$1 million was paid.

Citing information from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs, The Courier-Mail was reporting today that “negotiations between Somali authorities and the captors were under way.”

A spokeswoman for the department refused to identify the abductors. She told the newspaper that doing so would “set the situation back” and be counter-productive to “talks.”