Thursday, March 1, 2012

Journalist killed in Somalia had tried to restart radio shut down by militant group | Free Speech Radio News


WED, 02/29/2012 - 15:13
  • Year: 2012
  • Length: 2:19 minutes (2.11 MB)
  • Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 128Kbps (CBR)

In Somalia last night, a journalist with a local radio station, forty-nine year old Abukar Mohamed Kadaf, was shot and killed outside his home around 6 pm.

Mohamed Ibrahim, Secretary General of the National Union of Somali Journalists told FSRN from Mogadishu that the radio station Mohamad Kadaf had been working for was raided by Al Shabbab, the militant group linked to Al Qaeda, in 2010 and Kadaf had been trying to get the station back on the air.

Ibrahim described the climate for journalists in the country after repeated murders.

“The journalists are very worried about the culture of impunity. The terrorists have not been brought to court, have not been punished for what they have done and they are able to kill other journalists as well. So that is the worry, that most of the […] facing the journalists here in Mogadishu.”

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Mohamad Kadaf had worked for several civil society organizations and advocated for peace. He has a wife and four children.

Somalia is one of the most dangerous places in Africa and in its capital Mogadishu, residents have been enduring warfare for more than a generation. For those who report on the country’s events, the situation can be especially difficult. According to the Committee to the Protect Journalists, four media workers have been killed in the past six months.

The UN’s Special Representative for Somalia has called for a full and independent investigation into the killing of Kadaf. In a statement, Augustine Mahiga called on the The Transitional Federal Institutions to “redouble their efforts to end the culture of impunity and halt” what he called an “unacceptable cycle of violence.”

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