Somali forces shut two more radio stations Tue Nov 13, 2007 7:15 AM EST http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID= 2007-11-13T121501Z_01_L13281026_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-SOMALIA- CONFLICT-COL.XML&archived=False By Aweys Yusuf
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali government forces battling Islamist-led insurgents ordered two more radio stations off the air on Tuesday, as a U.N. envoy said the latest fighting had made the country's humanitarian crisis the worst in Africa. Authorities in the Horn of Africa nation often accuse local broadcasters of supporting the rebels. On Monday they shut down Shabelle Radio for the eighth time this year. Then on Tuesday, heavily armed troops raided Simba Radio and Radio Banadir. "They terrorized the employees ... All the reporters panicked and ran when they saw the guns," Radio Banadir's deputy director, Ali Muhamed Aden, told Reuters. Mustafa Haji, the chief editor at Simba Radio, said an officer told him the order taking them off air would apply to all independent stations operating in the capital Mogadishu. Rampant insecurity keeps most foreign correspondents out of Somalia, so locals are left to report on an insurgency that is targeting the interim government and its Ethiopian allies. Speaking after meeting aid workers in neighboring Kenya, the U.N. special envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, said he could see no reason to close a radio or newspaper. "They (the media) are helping people to help themselves. I think it is something to be avoided at all costs," he said. "WORST IN AFRICA" The latest effort by Ethiopian forces seeking to crush the rebels in Mogadishu has triggered fighting that has killed at least 70 people and driven tens of thousands from their homes. Hundreds of thousands have fled the city so far this year due to earlier battles, and Abdallah said Somalia's humanitarian crisis was now "the worst in Africa," including Sudan. "It has been like that since the start of the year, and the fighting of recent days has only made it worse." The U.N. envoy called on Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf to ensure that a new prime minister would help "open up the system to people who do not agree, to be more inclusive." Former Premier Ali Mohamed Gedi resigned last month after months of feuding with Yusuf. His successor is yet to be named. The Somali president gave no clues during a visit to Nairobi on Tuesday, but said reports that Gedi was trying to re-open talks between them rang hollow. "If he is proposing any dialogue now, why didn't he do it during his three years in office? It doesn't have credibility." Yusuf told reporters he would talk to any Somali or Somali group not designated as terrorists, including members of an opposition alliance founded in September in Asmara, Eritrea. "If they still want to solve this through political means, we are still willing to talk to them," he said. He blamed the latest fighting on groups wanting to "score political points," and called on residents to resist them. "They could become vigilantes, they could confront it." (Additional reporting by Andrew Cawthorne and Bryson Hull in Nairobi; Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Giles Elgood) -- Somalia govt shuts down two more Mogadishu radio stations http://www.garoweonline.com/artman2/publish/Somalia_27/Somalia_govt_s huts_down_to_more_Mogadishu_radio_stations.shtml 13 Nov 13, 2007 - 6:56:19 AM MOGADISHU, Somalia Nov 13 (Garowe Online) - Government troops in Somalia raided two independent radio broadcasters in the country's capital Mogadishu on Tuesday, following yesterday's raid on Radio Shabelle. Mohamed Shiil, deputy director of Radio Simba, confirmed to Garowe Online that soldiers entered the premises of the radio station near Mogadishu's Bakara market and ordered employees to go home. "We [employees] were ordered to go home and to not return," Shiil said. Another independent Mogadishu station, Radio Banadir, was also raided and ordered to go off the air. A Radio Banadir spokesman said authorities accused the radio of "inciting the public" following an interview Monday night. Mogadishu Mayor Mohamed "Dheere" Omar held a press conference today saying both stations have conducted interviews aimed at inciting the public against the government and its operations. Mogadishu's municipal government believes these local radio stations spread false news and exaggerate reporting on ongoing fighting and refugees in Mogadishu. -- Two Somali radio stations silenced http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/04912839-FB1F-43B5-A274- CDB3D5EDF48C.htm Dozens of civilians have been killed in recent fighting[AFP] Somali government forces have stormed two radio stations in Mogadishu and ordered them off the air, drawing protests from press freedom groups. Workers fled Radio Banadir and Simba Radio when heavily-armed troops entered their compound on Tuesday. Mustafa Haji, chief editor of Simba Radio, said: "They said the order to close the radio station will affect all independent stations in Mogadishu." Ali Muhamed Aden, deputy director of Radio Banadir, said: "They terrorised the employees ... All the reporters panicked and ran." On Monday, authorities in the turbulent Horn of Africa nation shut down Shabelle Radio and briefly detained two of its senior staff. Shabelle said on its website that it had received no explanation for its closure or been told how long it would last. It said it was the eighth time this year that the government had shut it down. "There has been pressure, intimidation and death threats to the journalists from the government and other people," it said. Eight local reporters have been killed while doing their jobs in Somalia this year. Presidential appeal While the government has closed many independent radio stations, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, the Somali president, called on Mogadishu residents to support him in the fight against hardline Muslim fighters. "My government is doing all it can to save the lives of the Somali people, but insurgents are responsible for the continued violence," Yusuf told a press conference in Nairobi. "People in neighbourhoods must also fight the Shabab [armed wing of the main Somali Islamist movement] and chase them away. Otherwise they are the ones who suffer in crackdowns," he said. Dozens of civilians have been killed and at least 114,000 displaced from Mogadishu in recent weeks. The recent clashes have worsened the humanitarian crisis that has dogged the nation for 16 years, with areas just outside the city struggling to cope with the latest influx of displaced people. Aid workers have said that those who have remained in the the most conflict-ridden areas of Mogadishu were beyond the reach of relief agencies and face dire conditions. Worsening conditions Pedram Yazdi of the International Committee of the Red Cross, based in Nairobi, told Al Jazeera: "I spent several days in the two main hospitals in Mogadishu ... receiving a lot of wounded. "Women and children have been caught up in the fighting in the southern part of Mogadishu, so the situation is quite bad. "The surgeons are working all day and all night to keep the wounded alive. The injured people mainly have chest wounds and head wounds from bullets and shrapnel. "Having more than 300 wounded in three weeks shows the level of violence in Mogadishu. Zacharias Liangas , Thessaloniki Greece email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web: www.geocities.com/zliangas Pesawat penerima: ICOM R75 , Lowe HF150 , Degen 1102-3,Tecsun PL200 , Chibo C300/c979, Yupi 7000 , Antenna: 16m hor, 2x16 m V invert, 1m australian loop ---[Start Commercial]--------------------- Preorder your WRTH 2007: http://www.hard-core-dx.com/redirect2.php?id=wrth2007 ---[End Commercial]----------------------- ________________________________________ Hard-Core-DX mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/hard-core-dx http://www.hard-core-dx.com/ _______________________________________________ THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS FREE. It may be copied, distributed and/or modified under the conditions set down in the Design Science License published by Michael Stutz at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/dsl.html
