Journalists in Mogadishu were presented with about 20 bulletproof jackets and helmets by the Doha Centre on Thursday - Photo Hiiraan Online
Doha Centre
for Media Freedom
Thursday, April 09, 2009
advertisements
Among those attending the ceremony at the Sahafi Hotel were deputy prime minister Abdirahman Haji Aden, information minister Suleyman Olad Roble, Somali media officials and many independent journalists.The Doha Centre's partner in the operation, the National Union of Somali Journalists, will hand out the protective clothing to journalists all over the country. Most will go to the areas hardest hit by violence: southern Somalia, and the self-proclaimed autonomous region of Puntland, in the north-east.
"These bulletproof jackets and helmets will make a big difference to the safety of Somali journalists, who are constantly exposed to gunfire and shrapnel", said union official Ali Moallim Isak.
"It is important to give Somali journalists moral support, but even more important to offer them material protection. That's what the Doha Centre is doing by supplying this equipment and by granting financial aid to journalists and the families of murdered journalists whenever necessary."
The information minister, who is also the minister for sport, welcomed the operation.
The deputy prime minister, speaking on behalf of the transitional federal government, acknowledged that Somali journalists were in danger and promised that the government would do everything possible to protect them. "The security forces must intervene without delay whenever a journalist is threatened", he said.
The equipment presented yesterday was the first batch of about 100 jackets and helmets to be given to Somali journalists by the Centre, which is headed by Robert Ménard.
The Centre also gave financial aid to six journalists recently to enable them to hire staff to protect them. They are Abdulahi Kulmie Addo, Mohamed Abokar Ahmed, Mohamed Haji Hussein (HornAfrik), Hassan Ali Gesei (Somaliweyn Radio), Mukhtar Mohamed Hirabe and Abdulahi Addala (Radio Shabelle).
Human rights organisations say Somalia is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. In the south, Shebab Islamist rebels fighting government troops and the African Union Mission in Somalia have taken control of many towns, and attacked and threatened media.
Yesterday the rebels ordered Radio Mandeq, the region's last independent station, to close down. Station manager Hassan Mohamoud Halane said: "We were not given a reason. They simply phoned to tell us to stop broadcasting and to go to the police station for an explanation." (Doha Centre).
Source: Doha Centre, April 9, 2009