CURBING FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN SOMALILAND

[N.O.R.F]

April 07, 2005

CURBING FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN SOMALILAND

(Statement from African Rights)

 

A failed attempt by the Somaliland police to close down a new radio station, Radio Horyaal, might sound like a comedy of errors, but it is another indication of an increasingly worrying human rights situation. The independent station has only been operational for about two weeks, but its very existence appears to have unnerved the government. Until recently, the government enjoyed a monopoly on the airwaves, and it has used Radio Hargeisa as a partisan vehicle to promote its own political interests, marginalising alternative voices and unwelcome facts and views.

 

When Radio Horyaal first broadcast, Ali Ahmed Ghelle, the deputy Minister of Information, immediately fired two journalists working for Radio Hargeisa, Hoda Ahmed Qarboshe and Ahmed Sheikh Elmi, who had taken part in its programmes. Other journalists from Radio Hargeisa were dismissed in subsequent days. Two other people associated with the radio were required to report to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) every evening to answer questions, principally about the physical location of the radio. In the meantime, unwilling to believe that the radio is beamed into Somaliland from abroad, the government has sent people all over the country to scout for the radio which it has linked to one of the two opposition parties, Kulmiye.

 

On Monday, 4 April, about 30 heavily-armed policemen forced their way into the headquarters of Kulmiye in the capital, Hargeisa, at about 5:00 p.m., conducting a thorough search of the offices for the elusive radio. Other armed policemen stayed outside and surrounded the premises. The secretary-general of the party, Daud Mohamed Ghelle, arrived as the police began their hunt. He later told journalists that he asked the policemen the purpose of their visit, which they did not reveal, and whether they had a search warrant, which they did not.

 

A huge crowd soon gathered at the party’s offices, including journalists, when its leaders and supporters turned up in full force to confront the police, who had in the meantime received huge reinforcements. The commanders leading the police, Abdillahi Fadal Iman, in charge of police operations for Somaliland; the police commander for Hargeisa; and the head of the CID, argued that the radio was located on the laptop of Daud Mohamed Ghelle and said they wanted to take Ghelle himself, as well as the laptop, into custody. There was a heated exchange between the police, who admitted they did not have legal authorization, but said they had been given “ordersâ€, and the leadership of Kulmiye who refused to surrender the laptop or to allow Ghelle to be taken by the police. The showdown attracted more and more people who became vocal in denouncing the police action.

 

The head of the Electoral Commission, Ahmed Haji Ali, came, along with some members of the Commission, the deputy speaker of Parliament and a number of elders, to try and defuse a potentially explosive situation. Kulmiye rejected the suggestion that they should hand the laptop over to the Commission, insisting on the right to know why their offices had been forcibly entered and ransacked in a manner that was evidently illegal and unconstitutional.

 

The police eventually withdrew at about 8:45 p.m. after they heard the nightly programme from Radio Horyaal and realized that it was not being broadcast from the building they themselves had surrounded. Ironically, the Landcruisers carrying the well-armed policemen were part of the Special Protection Unit set up to fight terrorism and to protect foreigners after several foreigners were assassinated.

 

In an interview with the Somali Service of the BBC, the Minister of the Interior, Ismail Adan Osman, insisted that a search warrant was not necessary because the radio is “illegal.†And yet Article 32 of the Constitution of Somaliland guarantees freedom of association, freedom of expression and freedom of the press in unequivocal terms. It states specifically that “the press and all other media are part of the rights citizens enjoy for expressing their opinions†and adds that “the press and media are entitled to their independence†and forbids any step to undermine this independence. Furthermore, Law No.27 gives the citizens of Somaliland the right to establish private radios, newspapers and TV stations. This law has been passed by both houses of parliament and signed by the President. Somaliland already has both private newspapers and a private TV station.

 

The government’s argument that the radio in question is “illegal†because it is not registered in Somaliland is irrelevant because the radio, as the government has been informed on many occasions, is based in a European country where it is registered. And there is no law that requires the citizens of Somaliland to acquire a license from the government for the right to listen to a foreign-registered radio.

 

It is not clear exactly who gave the police this assignment. The police force is answerable to the Minister of the Interior, but it is possible that the orders came from more senior quarters. What is clear, however, is that the Government of Somaliland is intolerant of dissent and is increasingly engaged in an open assault on the rights guaranteed in the Constitution of Somaliland, in this instance freedom of expression. The refusal of the government to allow the establishment of competitive radio stations is counterproductive and backward looking in an age where information persistently flows across borders. It is particularly difficult to square with talk about progress towards “democratisation†and the desire for international recognition for Somaliland. Independent radio can make analysis and debate on difficult issues accessible to ordinary people. This is a necessary part of ensuring that Somalilanders are well informed and able to generate the new ideas essential to build a better future for all the people of Somaliland. Unfortunately the experiences of Radio Horyaal would seem to suggest that the safest place to encourage debate in Somaliland is from outside the country. It is important that the government take immediate steps to correct this troubling impression and safeguard the rights enshrined in the Constitution.

 

 

Posted by Yvette Lopez at April 7, 2005 07:00 PM |

 

source: http://www.insidesomaliland.blogtales.com/archives/000328.html#more