Reporter Aden was jailed in the southern city of Kismayo following an online story claiming that the Jubba Valley Alliance had been importing arms in violation of a U.N. arms embargo, the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) reported.
The Jubba Valley faction, which controls Kismayo, accused him of posting “false information” in an article on the Gedonet Online Web site, according to NUSOJ. Aden also works for private radio station Jubba FM in Kismayo and is a prominent member of NUSOJ.
Somalia has had no functioning central government since the collapse of the Siad Barre regime in 1991. A Transitional Federal Government (TFG) established under a 2004 peace accord remains divided between factions based in the town of Jowhar and the capital, Mogadishu. Jubba Valley Alliance leader Barre “Hirale” Aden Shire is reconstruction minister in the TFG.
Aden was freed without charge on December 2, NUSOJ reported.