A Somali radio journalist was gunned down Friday — the seventh journalist to be killed in a crisis where reporters have become prime targets in spreading violence.
Abdulkadir Mahad Moallim Kaskey, the regional correspondent of Radio Banadir in the south-western province of Gedo, died after unknown gunmen opened fire on the minibus that he was riding in Friday morning in the village of El Ilan. Another passenger was wounded in the attack. This is the third media death in two weeks in southern Somalia and the seventh journalist killed this year. Only Iraq has seen more journalists killed this year.
“This latest killing confirms our fears that journalism has become more dangerous than ever in Somalia,” said International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) General Secretary Aidan White. “The deteriorating political crisis and increasing levels of violence make independent reporting almost impossible. International organisations need to think hard about action now to calm the situation.”
“We mourn the death of Kaskey and extend our condolences to his family and colleague,” Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Executive Director Joel Simon said.
"Deadly attacks on journalists and violations of press freedom are increasing day by day," said Omar Faruk Osman, Secretary General of the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ). “It’s time for the international community to investigate this crisis and do more to protect media staff.”
IFJ supports this call for the UN and other bodies to act over the violence against media staff. IFJ itself is planning a campaign to highlight attacks on press in Somalia. “We need to do more to improve levels of safety for journalists and we need action to bring those responsible for this wave of violence to justice,” said White. “The scandal of impunity in the killing of journalists must be brought to an end.”
In the absence of a strong central government, gunmen linked to local clans clashing over land frequently set up roadblocks to extract money from vehicles in the area, local journalists told CPJ. Friday, officials of the local Geledle sub-clan, which the gunmen allegedly belonged to, said they would hand over the perpetrators to provincial authorities after hundreds of people attended Kaskey’s funeral.
Kaskey, 20, was an active young reporter respected by his colleagues, according to Radio Banadir producer Ali Moalim. A day before his death, he had visited the offices of the press union in Mogadishu to discuss working conditions of journalists in southwestern Somalia. He was also a correspondent of Radio Maandeeq in Gedo and Radio Daljir in the northeastern semi-autonomous region of Puntland, CPJ said quoting to local media reports.
In Somalia, stray bullets have claimed the lives of reporters Ahmed Kafi Awale of Radio of the Somali People in January 2000, Abdullahi Madkeer of DMC Radio in January 2003, Duniya Muhyadin Nur of Capital Voice in June 2005, and this year, Mohammed Abdullahi Khalif of Radio Voice of Peace, and Abshir Ali Gabre and Ahmed Hassan Mahad of Radio Jowhar.
