Journalist detained for three days

November 24, 2006
Posted December 8, 2006

Abdulahi Yasin Jama, Radio Warsan and Somali Broadcasting Corporation

IMPRISONED

Jama, a reporter for the private, Baidoa-based Radio Warsan and the private, Bossasso-based Somali Broadcasting Corporation, was arrested by authorities of the transitional federal government after being summoned to the presidential palace in Baidoa, according to local journalists. His arrest appeared to be linked to his reporting for SBC on the presence of Ethiopian troops in Baidoa, according to the same sources.

Ethiopia, which backs the transitional government, has said it has only a few hundred military advisers in Somalia, but a confidential U.N. report obtained by the Associated Press said 6,000 to 8,000 Ethiopian troops were in Somalia or along the border.

On November 27, leaders of Jama’s clan obtained his release without charge, Jama later told CPJ. He added that he was still under government investigation.