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Somali government, Shabaab increasingly target journalists: report
34 journalists were arrested and detained without charge in 2021, report says.
www.theeastafrican.co.ke
Somalia’s journalists may be operating in one of Africa’s most dangerous zones with state actors and militants targeting them because of their work, a new report shows.
A report released Wednesday by the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) accuses government officials, both at federal and regional levels, of being an inherent danger, operating beyond the law to punish both reporters and media houses “with impunity.”
It also shows that al-Shabaab and other militants have increasingly targeted journalists.
In 2021, two senior journalists were killed by unknown gunmen. Jamal Farah Aadan, 56, was gunned down on March 1 in Galkaayo, in Somalia’s Galmudug federal state. Later in November, Abdiaziz Mohamud Guled aka ‘Africa’, a veteran radio broadcaster who criticised Shabaabs on his shows, was blown up in a car park. A suicide bomber standing near the window of his car blew himself up, killing the journalist. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility in both cases.
Government officials have also been implicated in targeting journalists.
In 2021, the report says, 34 journalists were arrested and detained without charge and four private media houses were temporarily shut down mostly for reporting on subjects that didn’t please authorities.
There is a coordination between FGS and terrorists network al Shabaab in killing Somali journalists , the killing of abdelaziz afrika is a prime example of how security forces from FGS allowed terrorists to slip in high security area near villa Somalia to assassinate the journalist who was working on a sensitive findings of how al shabaab operates in xamar.
Al-Shabaab kill Somali journalist Abdiaziz Guled who criticised them on radio
Abdiaziz Guled was killed in a targeted suicide bombing as he rode in a car with a colleague.
www.theeastafrican.co.ke