The Foreign Ministry is looking into the kind of action in terms of the law that can be taken to impose the appropriate penalty on the four Burundian peacekeepers responsible for the shooting death of a BernamaTV cameraman in Somalia on Sept 2, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Minister Anifah Aman told the house the four soldiers were sent back to their country for trial after the African Union Mission for Somalia (Amisom) held them responsible for the killing of Noramfaizul Mohd Nor in Mogadishu.

The Malaysian mission in Nairobi, Kenya, has been asked to monitor the trial until its conclusion and the ministry would send an official request to Amisom and the Burundi government to keep the ministry posted on the developments in the case, he said.

Anifah was replying to 10 questions raised by MPs on the developments in the fatal shooting of Noramfaizul who had been in the media team of a humanitarian mission of the Putera 1Malaysia Club to Somalia.

The MPs included John Fernandez (DAP-Seremban), Safawi Ahmad (BN-Sipitang), Datuk Abdul Manan Ismail (BN-Paya Besar) and Abdul Khalid Ibrahim (PKR-Bandar Tun Razak).

Noramfaizul, 39, was killed after he took a bullet while travelling back to his hotel in a four-wheel-drive vehicle with other media personnel. TV3 cameraman Ajis Saregar Mazlan was injured in the incident.

Amisom, in its official report issued on Sept 26 on the investigation, held the four Burundi soldiers responsible for Noramfaizul's death.

Anifah told the Dewan Rakyat the shooting death of Noramfaizul was an isolated and unexpected incident as all guidelines and security instructions were strictly adhered to.

"Soon after the Foreign Ministry was informed that Putra 1Malaysia Club wanted to go to Somalia on a humanitarian mission, the ministry offered its views and advice on the situation in that country then as the political situation there was unstable.

"Before the mission left for Somalia, a scout team was sent there to coordinate and handle the security, logistics and communication aspects," he said.

On financial contributions to the family of Noramfaizul, he said that as of Sept 28, the next-of-kin had received a total of RM332,406.60, with insurance payouts of RM50,000 (life insurance) and RM34,622.60 (accident insurance) and from Putera 1Malaysia Club (RM20,000), the Social Security Organisation (Socso) (RM1,500) and a monthly pension of RM2,000 until his children are 21.

“The Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) provided RM3,000 for funeral expenses, the payment in lieu of outstanding annual leave came to RM1,036 and Bernama employees contributed RM2,248,” he said.

Six Malaysians killed in Somalia previously

Anifah said six Malaysians were killed in Somalia previously, five of them soldiers who died during the peacekeeping mission of the United Nations Operations in Somalia (Unosom) from March 1993 to March 1995 and one an officer of Syarikat KUB Berhad, Lt Commander (Rtd) Rashid Musa, in 1998. 

The minister stressed it was important for non-governmental organisations to comply with the standard operating procedure (SOP) to reduce the security risk faced by members of humanitarian missions abroad.

“The ministry will inspect their SOP to ensure that it was comprehensive and included security aspects to avert any untoward incident,” he said.

In reference to the use of a Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) C-130 aircraft by the Putera 1Malaysia Club from Aug 28 to Sept 4, Anifah said the government acceded to the request in terms of the security of the mission and on condition that the club bore all associated expenses.

He said the Putera 1Malaysia Club achieved its objective of distributing aid to several refugee camps in Somalia and the Malaysian government was proud of the initiative and commitment of NGOs in extending aid to the famine victims in Somalia.

 

- Bernama