NAIROBI, 9 December (IRIN) - The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) has won a prestigious international award in recognition of its "tenacious fight to defend the international principle of press freedom" in the Horn of Africa nation.
The international media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RWB) awarded NUSOJ the Fondation de France International Press Freedom Defender prize at a ceremony in Paris on Wednesday.
"NUSOJ has tackled dozens of urgent cases, doing investigations and alerting international organisations and media, as well as writing reports on the media conditions in a country ruled by warlords," RWB said.
Accepting the award, NUSOJ Secretary-General Omar Faruk Osman said that in 2005 alone, the organisation had monitored, investigated and reported on more than 15 cases of murdered reporters, detained journalists, suspended media institutions, censored media houses and the intimidation of media professionals.
"Journalists are abused because of what they write, say or what they bring into the open - information that someone else wants to stay hidden," he said. "I hope [the award] will have a momentous impact on the current state of freedom of the press and expression in our war-wracked country."
Somalia, ranked 149th in the RWB Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2005, is considered one of the most dangerous places in the world for the media. Two women journalists, the BBC's Kate Peyton and Duniya Muhiyadin Nur of Mogadishu-based radio station HornAfrik, were killed in 2005.
Following the collapse of the late President Siad Barre's administration in 1991, faction leaders carved Somalia into rival fiefdoms, many of which have been wracked by violence for the past 14 years. A fledgling transitional government is yet to establish its authority across the war-scarred nation.
