On October 29, 2025, Ethiopian police in the border town of Wajale detained journalist Hamse Abdirashid Sheikh Idiris and three other Somali reporters and handed them over to Somaliland police, who held them for more than 30 hours without charge.
The reporters said they were drinking tea in a café on the Ethiopian side of Wajale when Ethiopian police told them to accompany them across the border and handed them over to Somaliland police, who took them to Wajale police station. The Somaliland police said the Wajale administration had ordered their detention because they had come to record anti-government views, the journalists said.
The four journalists were Hamse of MM Somali TV, Farhan Abdi Aw-Isse of Horn Cable TV, Abdisalan Muhumed Badde of Bulsho TV, and Sayid Hanad Mohamed Madar of Horyaal24 TV.
They had traveled that day from Somaliland’s Gabiley town, where they are based, about 40 kilometers east of Wajale, to report on the launch of an agricultural project by Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi. The journalists said they also planned to interview residents who were unhappy with how the project would be managed.
On October 30, President Abdirahman launched the project and the journalists were released after his delegation left town.
Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 but has not been recognized internationally, except by Israel in December 2025.
CPJ did not receive responses to emails requesting comment sent to Somaliland’s ministry of information and the office of the president, or via messaging app to a number on the police’s Facebook page.