Somali journalists protest threats

Tue Jun 9, 2009

MOGADISHU (AFP) – Somali journalists on Tuesday went on strike to protest the recent assassination of a colleague and demanded protection from the international community.

Around 15 Mogadishu-based journalists held a press conference, two days after the director of private radio Shabelle, Mokhtar Mohamed Hirabe, was assassinated in broad daylight in the capital.

"In addition to the direct threats against us, we cannot work impartially at this time and send correct information to society, so we are temporarily suspending our journalism activities," the group said in a statement.

"We know the impact this decision can have on society and the free flow of information but we are obliged to stop working in Mogadishu in order to save our lives," Shabelle editor Abdirahman Yusuf explained.

"We are in danger, so we call on the international community to protect Somali journalists," the statement read.

Hirabe was the third Radio Shabelle journalist to suffer a fatal attack since the start of 2009, the fifth journalist killed this year.

Somalia is one of the world's most dangerous countries for journalists. Media houses have been routinely shut down by the authorities and many reporters, Somali and foreign, have been kidnapped by armed groups.

Two freelance journalists, an Australian and a Canadian kidnapped near the capital some nine months ago, are still being held.

Somalia has lacked an effective central government since the 1991 ouster of president Mohamed Siad Barre plunged the country into violence.

The security situation has been particularly volatile in recent weeks, with an offensive by insurgent groups bent on toppling internationally-backed President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and a
counter-attack by government forces.