Journalist freed in Somalia after two-and-a-half years

Michael Scott Moore, a German-American journalist held hostage in Somalia for two-and-a-half years, was freed on Tuesday, according to German and Somali authorities. The 45-year-old journalist arrived in the capital Mogadishu on a small plane on Tuesday and was in good health, Spiegel Online said. Moore, who had worked for Spiegel before his abduction, was kidnapped by armed militia in the city of Galkayo in January 2012 while researching a book on piracy. A Somali pirate source, who asked not to be named, said a ransom was paid for his release.

We never lost hope and are celebrating with Michael and his mother, Marlies, that this nightmare has finally come to an end.

Wolfgang Buechner, Spiegel Online editor-in-chief

In the years since his kidnapping, Moore’s captors frequently posted pictures of him on the Internet. German and U.S. officials had been negotiating ever since for his release. Although piracy was once a scourge off the coast of Somalia, it has dropped significantly as a result of armed guards aboard cargo ships and an international naval armada that carries out onshore raids.

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