"Working in Somalia is a death sentence"
on 19 Nov 2007
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Following the shutdown of three popular radio stations in Somalia in recent weeks, freelance photojournalist Salah Mohammed Adde was arrested on 15 November by plain clothes officers at the Banadir Football Stadium in north Mogadishu. According to
IFEX,
Salah was taking pictures of the demonstrators, who were expressing support for security operations carried out by TFG forces with the backing of Ethiopian troops... According to the records of the National Union of Somali Journalists, eight media employees have been killed so far this year, while 47 journalists and media assistants have been jailed because of their work. No crimes against journalists have been investigated and prosecuted, apart from the recent arrest of the killer of journalist Abdulkadir Mahad Moallim Kaskey, who was shot by clan militiamen in Baidoa. link
Meanwhile, War reporter-come-cartoonist
David Axe heads to Mogadishu for two weeks "to cover the Islamic Courts
insurgency and African Union peacekeeping",
“Don’t be daft,†a veteran Africa correspondent told us when he found out we were Mogadishu-bound. It was a sentiment echoed by several formerly Somalia-based Western reporters who have all fled to the relative safety of Nairobi to wait out the current troubles. Every reporter we’ve talked to has tried to talk us out of going. They seem to believe that working in Somalia is a death sentence. link
It is getting scary to report in Somalia, the Ethiopia backed government seems to be afraid of concise, truthful reporting. There seems to be no difference between it and the Islamic Courts which ruled before them.