2 Somali Radio Journalists Killed

[Juje]

By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN

The Associated Press

Saturday, August 11, 2007; 8:11 AM

 

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Two Somali radio journalists were killed within hours of each other Saturday in this violent capital, and colleagues said they believe the men were assassinated.

 

Mahad Ahmed Elmi, 30, was shot by two men with pistols as he went to his office at HornAfrik Media Company early Saturday, witnesses said. Ali Iman Sharmarke, HornAfrik's owner, was killed by a land mine as he returned from Elmi's burial, said another company official, Farah Berey.

 

"(Sharmarke) was targeted by a land mine, apparently remotely controlled," Berey said. "I think it was an assassination and had something to do with Elmi's death this morning."

 

Sharmarke, speaking just before the land mine explosion that killed him, said Elmi's death "was meant to prevent a real voice that described the suffering in Mogadishu to other Somalis and to the world."

 

"Elmi was a symbol of neutrality," Sharmarke said.

 

Elmi was married and had a son and a daughter.

 

Elmi's broadcasts have criticized both the Somali government and the Islamic militants who have been trying to topple the administration through a bloody insurgency.

 

Somali Information Minister Madobe Nunow Mohamed said the killing was "revolting."

 

"Those who do not know the value of the media are behind such wicked actions," he said.

 

Mogadishu is increasingly caught in a guerrilla war, with frequent roadside bombs and mortar attacks. Thousands of civilians have been killed, and a fifth of Mogadishu's 2 million residents have fled to squalid camps.

 

Islamic militants vowed to conduct an insurgency in December, when they were toppled by Ethiopian troops supporting Somalia's government. Somalia has been mired in chaos since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other.

 

The government has accused independent radio stations of airing programs "likely to cause unrest."

 

On Friday, police raided Mogadishu-based Shabelle radio and detained eight journalists for several hours, said Aweis Yusuf Osman, editor of the station's English service. Other stations, including HornAfrik, also have been forced off the air for days at a time this year.

 

___

 

AP writer Mohamed Olad Hassan contributed to this report from Mogadishu.

[Juje]

This is utterly barbaric and cowardly act.

Allah uu naxaristo Mahad iyo Cali Iman, carrurti, afadi, eheledi, qarabadi iyo asxabti ay ka tagen samir iyo iman Allah ka siiyo.

[Jacaylbaro]

Subxaanallaah ! ! ! Ilaahayow u naxariiso

[Faarax-Brawn]

Allahu unaxaristo.

[General Duke]

Allahu unaxaristo.

[me]

Eebe ha u naxariisto, the finger is pointed at the xabash invaders and their TFG collaborators. The enemy is trying to sillence those that are speaking out. The enemy will fail.

[Juje]

Originally posted by me:

Eebe ha u naxariisto, the finger is pointed at the xabash invaders and their TFG collaborators. The enemy is trying to sillence those that are speaking out. The enemy will fail.

You are dead wrong sxb...and if you want to be objective in this mess you ought to point the finger at the culprit regardless of your sympathy towards them. Yes we hate the Xabashi and their stooges and are our prime enemies...but what about the bloddy murderers of these individuals and other countless innocent people....draw the line somewhere sxb and be realistic.

[Tahliil]

What line??....I will assume just for the sake of the people who are living in this hell that you are talking about some imaginary lines that are being drawn behind some computer screens somewhere in Europe or North america just to kill and waste away some time as am doing now and surely as you will do after I post this and nothing particular for the dire situation and the hellish lives that these pple are literally forced to live... this is, this whole exercise is utterly nothing but a very expensive debate meant to protract and mislead..

 

Morality doesn't come, never comes in single, pre-designed small gift bags...its more like a whole...like a cow...You either take it, embrace it as in totality or leave it and shun it and undersadn that the wolves, all wolves, that is, would want, would love to live like wolves...

[Libaax-Sankataabte]

Juje, what are your thoughts on this killing. Please do tell us what you know.

 

PS: Have you guys read that article on Midnimo.com? This is one of the most disturbing stories I've read recently. Ilaahay ha u naxariisto Cali iyo Mahadkii ka horeeyayba. Aaamiin

[Som@li]

Ilaahay ha u naxariisto!

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Walaahi waxaan waa disturbing, very, very disturbing.

 

Eebba ha u wada naxariisto Mahad iyo Sharmaarke.

 

Gacan ka gardaran ayaa dishay. Xaqdarana lagu dilay.

 

Tacsi gaar ayaan eheladooda inta ugu dirayaa, siiba xaaska Cali Iimaan Sharmaarke oo Reer Ottawa ah. Waxaan xasuustaa asagoo dhowr mar ku celi celinaayo maalintee teyda soo gisho ayaan dhimanayaa ee meelna uguma socdi dalka. Cali Sharmaarke 2000 ayuu ku noqday dalka, kana tagay Kanada suu u hirgiliyo idaacad madax banaan oo waagaas ka jiri jirin dalka. Idaacadaas madaxa banaan uu furay ayaa u horseeday tobaneeyadda kale ee hadda ka furan Xamar iyo kuwa kaleba dalka intiisa kale.

 

Eebboow u naxariisto marxuumadaas.

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Somali-Canadian journalist killed in Mogadishu

 

A former Ottawa resident is one of two journalists assassinated in conflict-wracked Somalia.

 

Somali-Canadian journalist Ali Iman Sharmakre owned HornAfrik Media, a radio company, which he operated in Mogadishu, the capital city. He was returning from the Saturday funeral of Mahad Ahmed Elmi, a radio talk show host he employed, when a remote-controlled land mine detonated near his vehicle.

 

The blast injured two other journalists in the car with Sharmakre.

 

Hours before his own death, Sharmakre spoke to the Associated Press about what the death of Elmi, shot Saturday as he went to work, meant to his troubled country.

 

"The killing was meant to prevent a real voice that described the suffering in Mogadishu to other Somalis and to the world," Sharmakre told The Associated Press. "Elmi was a symbol of neutrality."

 

Elmi was married. He had a son and daughter. Reuters reports that Elmi had fled to Canada as a refugee.

 

Sharmakre had two wives and three children. He originally fled Somalia's brutal civil war that erupted in 1991 and settled in Ottawa, where he reportedly had a comfortable career and became a Canadian citizen.

 

He returned to Mogadishu in 1999, where he established HornAfrik. Canadian Journalists for Free Expression gave him its International Press Freedom Award in 2002.

 

Foreign Affairs Canada told CTV News that the High Commission of Canada office in Nairobi, Kenya is aware a Canadian citizen had been killed in Mogadishu and that consular services would be provided.

 

Both the government and the Islamic militants trying to topple it have come under criticism by HornAfrik.

 

There is no word yet as to who is responsible for the killings.

 

"Those who don't want peace for Somalia are behind these attacks," deputy police commissioner Abdullahi Hassan Barise said.

 

The government has accused independent radio stations of broadcasting programs "likely to cause unrest."

 

Police raided Shabelle Radio, a Mogadishu station, on Friday. Aweis Yusuf Osman, the station's English-service editor, said eight journalists were detained for several hours.

 

Aidan White, general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, spoke out against the killings of Sharmakre and Elmi.

 

"These savage killings are an indicator of the perilous conditions facing journalists in Somalia, where political chaos and lawlessness threatens all independent journalism," he said.

 

The National Union of Somali Journalists said in a statement that six Somali journalists have died in the country so far in 2007.

 

CTV

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Two Somali Canadian journalists slain

 

MOGADISHU — Two respected Somali journalists – former refugees in Canada – were killed in Mogadishu on Saturday, the first shot dead outside his office and the other in a blast as he drove back from his slain colleague's funeral.

 

Somali associates of the two HornAfrik journalists expressed outrage, saying both deaths were part of a deliberate campaign against the media.

 

"This wave of killing and injuring media people is an intentionally organized mission to silence journalistic voices in Somalia," the National Union of Somali Journalists said.

 

"We are entirely appalled by these acts."

 

In the first attack, popular talk show host Mahad Ahmed Elmi was shot four times in the head at close range as he neared the door of his office at 7:15 am, colleagues said.

 

"We were outside when four gunmen jumped out," said one colleague, too terrified to reveal his name.

 

"They fired four shots against Mahad's head ... then they just fled," he said at the hospital where Mr. Elmi's body lay.

 

Later, the founder and co-owner of HornAfrik – Ali Iman Sharmarke – died when his four-wheel drive hit an explosive device in the road on his way back from Elmi's funeral.

 

The men came to Canada as refugees from the civil war in Somalia. After some calm returned to the African country, they opened HornAfrik, the first independent radio network in Somalia, in December of 1999.

 

Reuters journalist Sahal Abdulle, next to Mr. Sharmarke at the time of the blast, was lightly injured in the head and face.

 

"We heard a huge, huge explosion. There was smoke everywhere. Ali was in the front, I was sitting right behind him," Mr. Abdulle said of Mr. Sharmarke, who had just brought his wife and children from Canada to Kenya to be nearer to him.

 

"Ali was a good friend. I have known him a long time. He was committed to getting the truth out. He came back from Canada to promote democracy and give Somalis a voice. Today, he paid the ultimate price," Mr. Abdulle added.

 

The journalists' union said the vehicle was targeted.

 

"The National Union of Somali Journalists is outraged by today's assassination of ... Ali Iman Sharmarke, after a vehicle he was riding in was blown up by a remote-controlled mine by unknown assailants," it said in a statement.

 

Neither the union, nor any other Somali sources, pointed a specific finger of blame at either side in the war.

 

Another journalist, Abdihakin Omar Jimale of Radio Mogadishu, was wounded in a gun attack on Friday, the union said, adding the bullet had struck him in the shoulder.

 

Rights group Reporters Without Borders called on the government to urgently protect journalists. "Somalia is already this year the most deadly country in Africa for the media," it said in a statement on Saturday's deaths.

 

The union said six local journalists had been killed in 2007.

 

Mogadishu, one of the world's most violent cities along with Baghdad, is wracked by an Islamist-led insurgency against the Somali government and its Ethiopian military backers.

 

One of the biggest private media houses in Somalia, HornAfrik was criticized both by the Islamists during their six-month rule of Mogadishu last year, and then by the government since taking over the city at the New Year.

 

In a nation where only a few foreign journalists dare enter, and local reporters run daily risks of violence and harassment, HornAfrik is one of the main voices on Somalia to the world.

 

It was shelled heavily in April, apparently from Ethiopian troop positions, prompting Mr. Sharmarke at the time to make a formal complaint to the government.

 

Just hours before his death, Mr. Sharmarke had expressed sadness and anger at the murder of his employee Elmi.

 

"It demonstrates the conditions that Somali reporters are working under," the media businessman told Reuters just before the funeral. "The perpetrators want to silence our voices in order to commit their crimes."

 

Globe and Mail

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

 

A prominent Somali Canadian journalist was one of two men killed in deliberate attacks in Mogadishu on Saturday, authorities said.

 

Ali Iman Sharmarke, a Canadian citizen, and Mahad Ahmed Elmi, a Somali, had operated Horn Afrik Media Company, a station that has criticized both the government and Islamic militants in Somalia.

 

Reports say Elmi, 30, was shot to death on his way to work. Sharmarke, who was 50, was killed by a remote-controlled landmine as he drove from Elmi's burial.

 

Both men had lived in Ottawa and returned to their native Somalia in December 1999 to help build an independent press.

 

"Sharmarke was returning from the funeral of one of his employees, Mahad Ahmed Elmi, who had been shot dead at close range by two gunmen while on his way to work earlier in the day," the CBC's David McGuffin reported from Nairobi.

 

Two other reporters — one working for Reuters, the other for Voice of America — were in the car with Sharmarke and suffered light injuries, Mohamed Ibrahim, a reporter in Mogadishu told the Associated Press.

 

An editor at Sharmarke's radio station told reporters that Sharmarke died from shrapnel wounds to the head.

 

Witnesses said the bomb appeared to target Sharmarke's vehicle, which was in the middle of a convoy.

 

Sharmarke — whose wife and children still live in Ottawa — gave up a federal government job to return to his native Mogadishu

, McGuffin said.

 

His aim had been to help rebuild Somalia by developing a free press

.

 

"The station was popular for its phone-in shows, but unpopular with the new transitional government," McGuffin said.

 

Horn Afrik has been shut down several times in the past few months over its coverage of violence that has devastated Mogadishu since the transitional government was put into power by the Ethiopian military in January.

 

"Those who don't want peace for Somalia are behind these attacks," said the deputy police commissioner, Abdullahi Hassan Barise. He said the men were targeted because of their jobs at Horn Afrik.

 

"I don't know who was specificially responsible," Mohamed Elmi, who works for Horn Afrik and who was a friend of the two men, told CBC News.

 

"No specific group has claimed responsibility so far, he said.

 

In 2002, the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression honoured both Mahad Elmi and Sharmarke for their work in Somalia.

 

The CJFE noted the dangers facing the men, and all those associated with Horn Afrik.

 

"Its journalists, from many clans, have faced constant intimidation and threats in a society where there is no one to protest to, and no protection of press freedom."

 

Hundreds of thousands of Mogadishu residents have fled fighting in the city since the start of the year.

 

So far this year six journalists have been killed in Somalia.

 

CBC

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

2002 Press Freedom Awards Winners Announced

 

October 3, 2002 -- Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) has chosen a Kazakh journalist whose daughter died in police custody and three Somali-Canadians credited with rebuilding an independent media voice in Somalia as winners of this year's International Press Freedom Awards.

 

 

Ahmed Abdisalam Adan, Mohamed Elmi and Ali Sharmarke, HornAfrik Media Inc.

 

The trio fled the Somali conflict to come to Canada as refugees, winning citizenship and building lives for themselves here - two worked for the Ottawa-Carleton municipal government and the third for the federal Department of Finance.

 

When relative calm returned to Somalia, the trio decided to return to their homeland. In December, 1999, they opened HornAfrik, the first independent radio network in the country. Its journalists - from many clans - have faced constant intimidation and threats in a society where there is no one to protest to, and no protection of press freedom.

 

Co-founder Mohamed Elmi's driver was killed on a trip to North Mogadishu to install transmitting equipment. While it is not confirmed that HornAfrik was a target, it is a nonetheless telling episode. Recently, two of its reporters were also detained.

 

Extreme religious fundamentalists are critical of HornAfrik's international links, particularly its decision to air Somali-language programming from the BBC and Voice of America. Undaunted, HornAfrik continues to air a selection of outside programs.

 

But its biggest contribution has been to create a series of call-in programs that have become immensely popular across the country; every one of the country's warlords has logged at least one appearance on HornAfrik.

 

HornAfrik is a remarkable media-rebuilding success story. Radio Netherlands has reported that "almost everyone listens to HornAfrik ... the station enjoys huge popularity."

 

Prior to the launch of HornAfrik, the only radio stations in Somalia were those owned and operated by individual warlords who used them to propagate their own viewpoints.

 

CJFE