Somali government forces largest radio broadcaster off the air

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10/26/13, "Somali government forces largest radio broadcaster off air," thestar.com

"The largest Somali radio broadcaster was forced off the air Saturday after police stormed the headquarters of Radio Shabelle and briefly detained the station’s three dozen journalists.
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Shabelle, a privately owned and often controversial station, was based in a government building near Mogadishu’s airport, considered one of the safer areas of the capital. Its personnel had reportedly been warned months earlier of the eviction order but failed to comply with it.
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Many of the station’s young employees live in the compound, rarely venturing out due to safety concerns. Since 2007, 10 Shabelle journalists have been killed in Somalia, considered one of the world’s most dangerous countries for reporters and photographers. 
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Al Shabab, the Somalia-based Al Qaeda group, often targets the media, but journalists also face threats from various Somali power brokers more accustomed to settling disputes with the gun....

But with most Somali institutions desecrated after two decades of conflict, journalism is no exception. Media standards are low, and journalists in Mogadishu are often influenced by business, clan or government disputes or are simply bribed. 

Shabelle’s reputation had been tarnished in recent months amid allegations of slanderous journalism and extortion for stories.Somalia’s government has also been accused of stifling free speech. Earlier this year it arrested a journalist who had interviewed a woman who said she was raped by government security forces.

The issue of land ownership is a larger contentious issue in the capital, which has seen an unprecedented construction boom and influx of foreign funding. Thousands of internally displaced refugees occupy buildings and camps throughout the capital. Their numbers soared during the 2011 famine and the government has slowly been trying to relocate them and reclaim the land they’ve been occupying."

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10/26/13, "Somali police force radio station off air," BBC

"Police in Somalia have stormed the Mogadishu headquarters of the independent radio station, Shabelle, forcing it off the air. 

The authorities said they were taking back possession of the building, which belonged to the government.

The radio station is well known for being critical of senior officials. 

The move is the latest in a series of attacks on independent journalists by the government and the Islamist group, al-Shabab, media activists say.

The station had previously been ordered to leave the building.

Radio Shabelle reported on its website that police forced their way into the studio and beat journalists.

Witnesses told the AFP news agency that radio employees were seen being loaded into trucks.

A police officer said that the raid had "nothing to do with Radio Shabelle's current activities," the agency reported.

The Somali interior ministry says that the building housing Radio Shabelle was previously occupied by the national airline, and so should revert to the government.

Radio Shabelle says it was occupying the building, which is near Mogadishu's airport and in a secure area, legally after an agreement with the previous government.

The Reporters Without Borders organisation, which campaigns for freedom of information and helps journalists, says journalists working in Somalia face "extreme dangers". 

Eighteen journalists were killed in Somalia in 2012 alone, the organisation says, and 10 Radio Shabelle journalists have been murdered since 2007.

 
Reporters Without Borders gave its annual international press freedom award to Radio Shabelle in 2010."

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In 2010 Islamists forced Somali radio stations to stop playing music on penalty of death:

4/13/2010, "Somali radio stations comply with Islamists' music ban," BBC

"Most radio stations in Somalia have stopped playing music,

on the orders of Islamist Hizbul-Islam insurgents who say that songs are un-Islamic.

The stations said they had to comply with the ban as if they did not, they would be putting their lives at risk. 

The BBC correspondent in Somalia says this latest order has strong echoes of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

In the past, militants in some areas have banned watching films and football and forced men to grow beards.

Somalia has not had a functioning central government since 1991 and the Islamist militants control large parts of its territory.

The transitional government - backed by African Union troops and UN funds - controls only a small part of the capital, Mogadishu.

The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says the order to stop playing music and jingles was issued 10 days ago. All but two of the city's 15 radio stations used to broadcast music."...



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