BBC producer Kate Peyton has been shot dead in Somalia.
Peyton, 39, was working with reporter Peter
Greste on Wednesday when she was shot by a man believed to be a
member of a militia near a hotel associated with journalists. She
was taken to hospital but died later from loss of blood.
Greste on Wednesday when she was shot by a man believed to be a
member of a militia near a hotel associated with journalists. She
was taken to hospital but died later from loss of blood.
Greste was not injured in the incident.
“The fact that she was shot very close to the
journalists’ hotel in Mogadishu suggests that the lawlessness that made
journalists prime targets in Somalia during the 1990s is far from
finished,” said International Federation of Journalists general
secretary Aidan White.
journalists’ hotel in Mogadishu suggests that the lawlessness that made
journalists prime targets in Somalia during the 1990s is far from
finished,” said International Federation of Journalists general
secretary Aidan White.
He said: “This should be a warning to all media
that political promises of an end to the violence are a long way from
being delivered.”
that political promises of an end to the violence are a long way from
being delivered.”
Peyton had worked for 10 years in Africa and
began working for the BBC as a producer and reporter in 1993. She also
worked as a producer and trainer for the South African Broadcasting
Corporation in Johannesburg.
began working for the BBC as a producer and reporter in 1993. She also
worked as a producer and trainer for the South African Broadcasting
Corporation in Johannesburg.
BBC Director of News, Helen Boaden, said “Kate
was one of our most experienced and respected Foreign Affairs producers
who had worked all over Africa and all over the world. She will be
greatly missed, both professionally and personally.
was one of our most experienced and respected Foreign Affairs producers
who had worked all over Africa and all over the world. She will be
greatly missed, both professionally and personally.
“Our thoughts are with her partner, Roger, his daughter, and Kate’s
mother, brother and sister. We are in touch with the family and are
doing everything we can to support them at this terrible time.”
mother, brother and sister. We are in touch with the family and are
doing everything we can to support them at this terrible time.”
Friend and colleague Fergal Keane paid tribute to
her on Radio Four’s Today programme sayingshe had a personality that
imprinted itself on people and that she had a gentleness, kindness and
humility that everyone who had met her remembered and would remember
for the rest of their lives. He also said that there was not a part of
Africa that was unknown to her or a challenge in the continent that she
had not faced at some point in her life.
her on Radio Four’s Today programme sayingshe had a personality that
imprinted itself on people and that she had a gentleness, kindness and
humility that everyone who had met her remembered and would remember
for the rest of their lives. He also said that there was not a part of
Africa that was unknown to her or a challenge in the continent that she
had not faced at some point in her life.
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