Somalia

2010

  

As bombings spread, Pakistan deadliest nation

At least 42 journalists are killed in 2010 as two trends emerge. Suicide attacks and violent street protests cause an unusually high proportion of deaths. And online journalists are increasingly prominent among the victims. A CPJ special report

Read More ›

Jama with his two sons. (Horseed Media)

CPJ welcomes release of Puntland journalist

New York, November 8, 2010–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the presidential pardon and release today of radio journalist Abdifatah Jama, who was imprisoned in August for airing an interview with an Islamist rebel leader in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland. CPJ had repeatedly called for his release.Jama, deputy director of Horseed Media, had begun serving a six-year prison sentence after being…

Read More ›

A grenade blew through the roof of Horseed FM's office in Bossasso. (Horseed FM)

Attackers lob grenade at Puntland radio station

New York, October 19, 2010–A pair of assailants lobbed a grenade Monday evening at Horseed FM, a private radio station broadcasting from the port city of Bossasso, the economic capital of Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region, according to local reports. After the grenade exploded, one of the attackers began shooting at an adjacent café, Horseed Managing…

Read More ›

Somaliland obstructs UK satellite station

New York, October 7, 2010–Authorities in Somaliland should immediately lift a suspension order imposed against the UK-based satellite broadcaster Universal TV, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The order bars the station’s correspondents from reporting in the breakaway republic in northern Somalia, Khadar Mahamed, Universal TV senior newscaster and producer, told CPJ.

Read More ›

Dasar (Clifford Derrick)

Somali journalist lives under threat, in fear in South Africa

Violence has cut through the life of 28-year-old journalist Abdulahi Ibrahim Dasar, from his high school days in Kismayo, the third-largest city in Somalia, to his life as a refugee in South Africa. The turbulence of Dasar’s life also explains his entry into journalism, a profession that has made him a target of assassination by…

Read More ›

A journalist films an insurgent in Somalia. (Mohammed Ibrahim)

‘A Somali journalist’s life is short anyways’

In August, Shabelle Media Network, one of Somalia’s leading independent broadcasters, did something incredibly brave–they rebroadcast news and music that the BBC’s Somali-language service beams to the war-torn Horn of African nation in defiance of a ban imposed by hard-line militant Islamist rebel groups Al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam. For Somali journalists, who risk death by crossfire and assassination, and censorship from both…

Read More ›

In Puntland, radio journalist fatally stabbed

New York, September 1, 2010–Unknown assailants fatally stabbed radio journalist Abdullahi Omar Gedi in the Galkayo district of Puntland, a semi-autonomous region of Somalia, on Tuesday evening. Gedi, 25, had just left work at Radio Daljir when attackers stabbed him repeatedly and left him unconscious, the station’s managing partner, Jama Abshir, told CPJ. Gedi died…

Read More ›

SOMEPED

Somali journalist killed in Mogadishu crossfire

New York, August 24, 2010–Veteran radio journalist Barkhat Awale, at left, was killed by crossfire today in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, according to local journalists and news reports. He is the second journalist killed on duty in Somalia this year, according to CPJ research.    Awale, 60, director of the community radio station Hurma Radio, was…

Read More ›

Puntland editor jailed after airing rebel leader interview

New York, August 16, 2010–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland to immediately release jailed radio journalist Abdifatah Jama, who was sentenced on Saturday to six years in prison on charges related to an interview with Islamic rebel leader Sheikh Mohamed Said Atom.

Read More ›

Voters at a Somaliland polling station on June 26. (Ahmed Kheyre)

Somaliland elections and coverage surprisingly…normal

Critical voices in the East African media—whether in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi, or Uganda—have been intimidated, banned, blocked, and beaten prior to elections in recent years. Somalia is so embroiled in conflict that even the concept of having elections remains a faraway dream. But in late June, the semi-autonomous region of Somaliland in northern Somalia managed to hold relatively peaceful and free elections with decent media…

Read More ›

2010