Monday, February 12, 2007
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GENEVA, Feb 12 (Reuters) - A United Nations human rights expert on Monday condemned what he called threats to press freedom in Somalia.Ghanim Alnajjar cited the arrests of three journalists in the breakaway enclave Somaliland and the brief closure by the government last month of four media outlets in Mogadishu.
The two developments, Alnajjar said, represented "threats to the right to freedom of opinion and expression in different parts of Somalia".
In his statement, issued through the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Alnajjar said "the media must be allowed to perform its duties without apprehension."
A "free and independent press which does not fear any party is crucial to restoring peace and security in Somalia," the Kuwaiti political science professor added.
The Somali government took control of Mogadishu after a December war in which it drove out Islamists with help from Ethiopian troops.
The three journalists detained in Somaliland, which declared independence from Somalia after dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991, worked for a group called Haatuf Media Network.
The U.N. expert named them as Yusuf Abdi Gabode, Ali Abdi Din and Mohamed Omar Sheikh, but gave no indication of the charges against them.
He said he understood several other people had been arrested or detained for supporting the three or demonstrating against their arrest.
The four outlets briefly shut down in Mogadishu were HornAfrik Media and Shabelle Media Network, two of the largest independent broadcasters, the Koranic radio station IQK and the local office of the Qatar-based Al Jazeera global TV network.
The mid-January action against them came as martial law was declared in Somalia after a government and Ethiopian military drive against the Islamists who had controlled the capital since June and moved on to capture large areas of the country.
Government officials accused the four outlets of being biased during the war, a charge which they all denied and of heightening tensions by airing unconfirmed reports.
Despite its relative peace unlike the rest of Somalia, the enclave of Somaliland is not recognised internationally.
Source: Reuters, Feb 12, 2007