SOJRA calls for Islamic groups to stop the violence and attacks against Somali journalists

Somalia has not had a power full central government for close to two decades but has had a week and no effective government. Mostly there is no press freedom in Somalia and freedom of expression particularly south and central regions and Somali journalists are struggling to do their jobs in one of the most dangerous places in the world and difficult to work as a journalist.

In this year 2009 five (5) journalists have been killed, seven others wounded while some others forced to fleeing their jobs when received phone calls from the armed groups against the National Unity Government of Somalia and the last recent killed was Mukhtar Mohamed Hirabe, who was the director of Shabelle radio based in Mogadishu.

A shocking two things in this year 2009 was the killing of Hornafric director Said Tahlil Ahmed while he was on his way for press conference to Al-shabaab group at that day Said accompanied by other media directors and some Alshabaab militias as guards but did nothing when Said was killed.

The other thing was the attack of radio Abudwak director Hassan Bulhan Ali while attending a reconciliation meeting between two rival clans on 7 February in Abudwak district and the attacker stabbed Hassan five (5) times in the chest and backside in the abdominal cavity.

In the light of the above, attacks on journalists violate their fundamental rights to freedom of expression and press and it deliberate attempt to silence the most important information revealing human rights violations by all parts to the conflict in Somalia

While this is exist, the Somali Journalists’ Rights Agency (SOJRA) calls for Islamic groups to protect the young Somali journalists who are decided to work on this hard circumstances.

SOJRA is kindly requesting to all Somali Islamic groups to take all necessary steps to ensure compliance with International Human Rights Law by the following these two items;

1- Halting death threats through phone calls and text messaging.

2- Facilitate their access of information by permitting full freedom of movement without feeling for constant fear of reprisal and harassments.

For the past three years and more journalists and media professionals in Somalia are among the people whose life is largely put in a dangerous situation.

SOJRA’s monitoring and observation sector (MOS) which systemically monitors and reports attacks on journalists is very power fully conveys the many dangerous that Somali journalists face on a regular basis.

WOJA extends condolence to the family, friends, and Somali media workers for the killing of Mukhtar Mohamed Hirabe, Director of Shabelle Radio and TV in Mogadishu, Somalia.

Press Release fro Women Journalists Inaction (WOJA)

Ref: 00134
Date: 07/06/ 09

Subject: Condemn
Women Journalist in Action (WOJA) extends condolence to the family, friends, and Somali media workers for the killing of Mukhtar Mohamed Hirabe, Director of Shabelle Radio and TV in Mogadishu, Somalia.

Somalia is the worst of the worst environments for broadcasters. Today Sunday morning (June 7) Shabelle Radio and TV director Mukhtar Mohamed Hirabe was gunned down by “unknown” assailants, according to local reports.

Program Director Ahmed Tajir was also shot and was taken to hospital in critical condition.

Two Radio Shabelle reporters were killed this year in separate incidents. Hirabe survived a February assassination attempt in the same Bakaro market district of Mogadishu that claimed the life of Radio HornAfrik director Said Tahlil Ahmed.

We have been appealing to political groups to end the killing of media people, but no group listened.
Now is the time for the international community to take urgent actions instead of issuing statements expressing its distress and condemnation.

The condemnation signed by
The coordinator of Women Journalist in Action WOJA
Sahra Mohamud Koronto (Keef)

Critiques or cop-outs

“It’s just politics, what more do you really expect?”

– That’s typical of the comments of the last few days, as a steady trickle of senior ministerial resignations weaken an already precariously positioned Labour administration.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown teeters on the brink of facing overthrow through the twin assaults of, firstly, his collapsed general reputation within his own party and, secondly, the MPs expenses scandal which has swept politicians of all parties.

But perhaps most surprising of all is not that this quite extraordinary political imbroglio, a horrible mix of naked interpersonal bitterness coupled with endemic greed, has come to pass but rather that not many people are that surprised.

There is some anger, certainly, but all of that tempered with the “It’s just politics……” resignation.

It’s a massive moral write-down, a colossal discounting of expectation. And something very similar is still happening in the other major storyline – the economy.

As in the U.S., the over-heated financial institutions caught a nasty cold, the economy sneezed violently and morale was simply blown away in an instant.

And still the coverage tends to converge around single instances of wrong-doing, personalities, regulatory rules and third-party overseeing responsibilities. I comment in more detail on these corporate culture implications elsewhere.

“It’s just business, what more do you really expect?” is still largely the shared wisdom on the enduring recessionary situation.

Again, perhaps, the most surprising aspect of it all, certainly with the benefit now of a little hindsight, is not so much that it happened but that so few people really thought it that much of a surprise.

And that is, again, surely a significant part of the problem. We abrogate, they abnegate. The Fourth Estate only retains any of the integrity of an estate if it keeps boundaries.

These cautions surely press even harder in the dispersed and distributed media world which this excellent site features and champions.

Debate these boundaries, always. Extend the inclusiveness of these, absolutely. Be tolerant and promiscuous of admission, always. But never, never, let natural moral osmosis turn into a flood of dumb resignation. Comment’s cheap – and that’s probably good. Superficiality cheapens – and that most definitely is bad.