In Puntland, radio contributor shot during army raid
New York, May 9, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the death on Saturday of Mohammed Abdullahi Khalif, a contributor to the private radio station Voice of Peace in Somalia’s northeastern, semi-autonomous region of Puntland. Khalif was killed by crossfire while covering an army raid on an illegal gun market in the city of Galkayo.…
CPJ mourns death of AP African correspondent Anthony Mitchell
New York, May 8, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists extends its condolences to the colleagues and family of respected Associated Press reporter Anthony Mitchell, who was killed in a weekend plane crash in Cameroon. Mitchell, 39, a staff reporter with the AP’s Kenya bureau, was among 114 passengers killed when a Kenya Airways aircraft crashed…
SOMALIA: Radio correspondent detained over shooting report
MAY 7, 2007 Posted June 7, 2007 Hassan Mayow, Radio Shabelle HARASSED Mayow, a correspondent for the leading independent station Radio Shabelle, was detained overnight by government troops in Afgoye, 18 miles west of the capital, Mogadishu. The detention came in connection with a story on the killing of three food aid recipients allegedly shot…
Backsliders: The 10 countries where press freedom has most deteriorated
New York, May 2, 2007–Three nations in sub-Saharan Africa are among the places worldwide where press freedom has deteriorated the most over the last five years, a new analysis by the Committee to Protect Journalists has found. Ethiopia, where the government launched a massive crackdown on the private press by shutting newspapers and jailing editors,…
In Somalia, shelling destroys broadcast stations, injures journalists
New York, April 23, 2007—Two private broadcast stations were destroyed and several journalists were injured last week as Ethiopian troops backing Somalia’s transitional government attacked suspected strongholds of Islamist fighters and militiamen from the Hawiye clan, according to news reports and local journalists. HornAfrik television and radio—the first independent broadcaster in Somalia’s history— has been…
Somali government detains three TV journalists
New York, April 11, 2007— Three journalists of Somali-language international broadcaster Universal Television were arrested in the capital Mogadishu in connection with questions they asked during a presidential interview, according to local journalists. On Sunday, director Abdulkader Ashir Nadara, reporter Bashir Dirie Naleye, and cameraman Hamud Mohammed Osman of the London-based satellite network were exclusively…
Somali government shuts down Al-Jazeera bureau
New York, March 23, 2007— The bureau of satellite television Al-Jazeera in the capital Mogadishu was indefinitely shuttered on Thursday following an order from intelligence officials of Somalia’s Ethiopian-backed transitional government, according to news reports. The bureau of the Qatar-based broadcaster was “effectively closed” today after the station received a letter from the transitional government’s…
In Somalia, government troops arrest journalist and driver, seize truck
New York, March 21, 2007— Somali government troops today arrested a reporter and a driver of a leading independent broadcaster in the capital Mogadishu as they arrived to cover an official press conference at the city’s airport, according to local journalists and the National Union of Somali Journalists. Shabelle Radio reporter Mohammed Bashir and driver…