22 Nov 2007: ISS Today: Kamikaze Journalism in Somalia

22 November 2007: Kamikaze Journalism in Somalia

 

In October Amnesty international released a statement in which it declared that the situation of the journalist in Somalia today is the worst it has been since the fall of Siad Barre government and the disintegration of the Somali state in 1991. Reports by the committee to Protect Journalist, a New York based NGO, indicate that 8 journalist have been murdered in Somalia since January 2007, a record second worldwide only to Iraq. The latest to fall victim to groups inevitably described as “unidentified gunmen” was Bashir Nur Gedi, a manager with independent broadcaster Radio Shabelle. In August the owner of Horn Afrik Media and the head of another media house were murdered in an incident that led to counter accusations between the insurgents and the government over who was responsible for the murders. Many other journalists have survived assassination attempts.

 

Yet death, in all its finality, is not all that a journalist in Mogadishu has to contend with. Mogadishu houses more than 10 independent radio stations, the most prevalent form of mass media in Somalia, as in many developing states. In the first two weeks of November 2007, three stations - Radio Shabelle, Radio Simba and Banadir Radio - were forcefully shut down by government security forces for reasons ranging from “coverage undermining the government” to “spreading false information”.  That could mean that one interviewed a clan spokesman who protested the arrest of a clan elder or that one took photographs of dead government or allied soldiers.  Most affected by these closures is Radio Shabelle which has been ordered closed eight times in 2007 alone. This is no wonder, given that it is situated in the Bakara Market of Mogadishu, a neighbourhood thought to be the stronghold of the resurgent insurgency against the Transitional Federal government (TFG) and its allies.

 

The arrest and detention of journalists is an ever present reality. Sometimes this is only for brief periods in order to effect the closure of stations or carry out investigations, But it is often for long periods, for ‘security reasons’. There appears to be a prevailing attitude within the TFG that there exists an illicit relationship between the journalists and the insurgents, one developed over the long period of state absence. This relationship, the thinking goes, has led to reluctance on the part of the media houses to accept government administration and has resulted in subtle attempts to sabotage the TFG. This view accounts for the less than cozy relationship between the TFG and the independent press. The truth is difficult to ascertain, especially considering the harassment that the independent press received during the short reign of the Islamists in 2006. Either way, there is little question that the journalist in Somalia is in peril.

 

Added to government closures are attacks and threats by insurgents. Indeed, one of the reasons given by the TFG for the clampdown on the press is that journalists are induced, under threats of death, to run pro-insurgent propaganda. One journalist, the editor of a popular Somalia website Waagacusub, was forced to go to exile in Nairobi, Kenya when Islamists threatened to kill him for allegedly being a government spy and disseminating propaganda aimed at creating a conflict within the insurgency movement. Ironically, this same journalist had previously complained of threats from government agencies to his life. So to Nairobi he fled.

 

Exile for the journalists, especially in neighbouring Nairobi does not seem to be all that much safer.  At least one Journalist in Nairobi has been subjected to threats to his life by unknown persons for “writing propaganda”.

 

For most people, from humanitarian agencies to governments and media houses, information on Somalia is dependent on the journalist on the ground in Mogadishu, ducking guns and struggling to stay alive. One journalist describing his modus operandi stated that he moved around with nothing to identify him as a journalist; no camera, no notebooks, no press card. Another displays his press card depending on who is manning whichever roadblock he comes across.  Four of the surviving radio stations in Somalia have had to exercise self censorship. This is more so having heard threats of more control from the Mayor of Mogadishu who issued an edict requiring all electronic media houses to register. Yet by being on air while others have been closed, these stations are perceived by the insurgent groups as being pro-government.

 

But the journalists trudge on. And they continue to write. In 2005, the National Union of Somali Journalist (NUSOJ) received the Defender of press freedom award from the Reporters Sans Frontiers and the Fondation de France, in “recognition of the journalists’ tenacious fight to defend the international principle of press freedom in a world ravaged by internal warfare”. This is notwithstanding the non-recognition of NUSOJ by the Information ministry of the TFG.

 

It is for this reason, that, in recognition of the vital role that the journalists play in generating information, communication and debate on the that state of human security in Somalia, and thereby ensuring that the people of Somalia and the world play an informed role in re-creating a peaceful stable and prosperous Somalia, it is necessary to pause and salute the heroic actions of the Somali journalist. To paraphrase the words of Reporters sans frontiers in its 2007 Annual report, the Somali journalist is caught up in a war in which disinformation and lies are major weapons, and being witness to the same, abandoned by the authorities and targeted by the insurgents, exhibits incredible character and courage, in acts not unlike the kamikaze, that the truth may be known.

 

Richard Barno, Senior Researcher: IGAD Capacity Building Against Terrorism (ICPAT), ISS Addis Abbaba