Two masked gunmen killed the director of one of Somalia's largest broadcasters on Sunday, raising to five the number of journalists killed in Somalia this year. The gunmen shot Radio Shabelle's director Moqtar Mohamed Hirab several times in the chest and head, said Feysal Ahmed, a businessman who saw the shooting occur just outside his shop in the capital, Mogadishu, the Associated Press (AP)...
The director of Somalia's Universal TV, Ibrahim Mohamed Ali, was abducted Tuesday as he was returning from Afgoye, 30 km north of Mogadishu, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Universal TV is a privately-owned Somali television station based in London. “This kidnapping comes just a few days after a journalist was killed while covering the fighting between government forces and Islamist...
Sudanese media has suffered multiple blows in recent months as parliament considers a harshly repressive press bill and authorities impose an exceptional level of censorship. The press bill, introduced in the Sudanese National Assembly in April, falls far short of international standards for free expression, according to an analysis by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The
The government of Gabon has launched a crackdown on independent media coverage of President Omar Bongo's hospitalisation and potential succession issues. Bongo, Africa's longest-serving head of state, has been in a Spanish hospital since earlier this month amid conflicting reports about his condition. On Saturday, the state-run National Communication Council (known by its French acronym as CNC)...
Two journalists, a Canadian and an Australian, who have been held hostage for over nine months in Somalia are in poor health and have sought greater help from their governments to secure their release. Freelance Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout and Australian photographer Nigel Brennan said they were in poor health and urged their respective governments to help free them, according to news...
Somalian radio reporter Nur Muse Hussein died Tuesday as a result of gunshot wounds suffered while covering fighting in April. Hussein, a veteran correspondent for Radio IQK, suffered two bullet wounds to his right leg while reporting on clashes between militia groups in the central town of Beledweyn on April 20, according to the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSJ). We offer our deep...
Radio Mada reporter Evariste Ramanantsoavina has been released in Madagascar after being held since May 5, when soldiers arrested him in order to force him to reveal the location from which the station was broadcasting in defiance of a closure order. “We are relieved to learn that Ramanantsoavina is free at last,” Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said. “It is nonetheless deplorable that...
Radio Shabelle journalist Abdirisak Mohamed Warsame on Friday became the third Somali journalist to be killed in the line of duty this year. Warsame, 24, was shot in crossfire as government forces launched an assault against Islamist guerrilla fighters in Somalia's war-ravaged capital, Mogadishu. Warsame, a producer for the leading independent broadcaster Shabelle Media Network, was scheduled to...
The Kenyan government has finally published amendments to the Communications Act, which will delete a controversial clause that allows the government to raid broadcasting stations. The Kenya Communications (Amendment) Law 2008, which President Mwai Kibaki signed into law in January 2009, enables the state to raid broadcasting houses and destroy or confiscate equipment in the name of "public safety
Sierre Leone journalist Sylvia Blyden has been forced into hiding after receiving death threats, while another, Umaru Sitta Turay, suffered a vicious knife attack, Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Both journalists were targetted for attack because they had allegedly “libelled” Sierra Leone’s president, RSF said, urging the head of state to call off the “witch-hunt” against...
