Namibia’s Ebba Kalondo ‘angry’ with dead French-Islamic terrorist

NAMIBIAN-BORN Ebba Kalondo, who is now the deputy head of the Africa Service for France 24 television network, says she is angry with the now dead French Islamic terrorist, Mohamad Merah, for making her his spokesperson during a 32-hour standoff with police last week.

Merah (23) was involved in the killing of seven people: three children and a teacher at a Jewish school, and three French paratroopers last week.Merah called Kalondo at 01h00 in the morning, when she was about to finish her shift as the senior editor on duty. He wanted her to hear his story and broadcast it.’I’m still not entirely sure [how he managed to get hold of me]. France 24 is the only network in France that works 24 hours a day and our footprint is more important than the national channels,’ she said.According to her, she did not know at first that she was speaking to a terrorist.’I don’t know how a ‘terrorist’ sounds like. I was just speaking to a young man,’ she said.About 32 hours after Merah had contacted Kalondo to tell his story to the media, he was shot dead during a firefight with French security in Toulouse. Asked how she she felt about him being killed, Kalondo said: ‘Very cross. He left me to finish off his story without asking my permission.’Kalondo has been working for France 24, a TV network based in Paris that broadcasts in English, French and Arabic, since 2006. She left Namibia in 2001, and 15 years ago, she was a news presenter on NBC.’News media have changed dramatically since. Technology has changed our work tools, modes of transmission of images and data no longer needs a mediated platform. Twitter has overtaken the news agencies, and since the Syrian revolution, citizen journalism has come of its own. News gathering, distribution, transmission of news, is a world away since I left NBC,’ she said.Besides being part of the news because of Merah, Kalondo’s hardest stories involved the gang-rapes of women in Eastern Congo and then interviewing the perpetrators; while the biggest story she covered was the inauguration of American President Barack Obama.Asked what message she has for Namibia on its 22nd Independence anniversary, Kalondo said: ‘How does one give advice to a young, beautiful and headstrong woman? I simply hope that she knows that she is more beautiful than most.’Kalondo, who is in Namibia for a break until Friday, said she can’t wait for the day when she can return home and be part of ‘my country’s development’.

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