Mogadishu (Comment) — The Federal Government of Somalia yesterday issued a media policy discouraging journalists from reporting on Al-Shabaab. The Government deems any news on the proscribed group by a website or a radio station a crime. If Al-Shabaab published a communique or tweets a policy statement local news websites take the risk to report by adding the perspective of security analysts who suggest ways to counter the threat from the group.
Local journalists have broken many Al-Shabaab-related stories but were also prevented from reporting on the ability of the group to levy tax on business — the Federal Government considers such a news as demoralising. Two weeks ago the Mayor of Mogadishu Yusuf Hussein Jimale alleged that “Al-Shabaab owns major businesses in Mogadishu”.
The criminalisation of reporting on Al-Shabaab has resulted in the closure of some websites believed to be a mouthpiece of the terrorist group. Radio Alfurqan website is back online with a lead story on “the Federal Government statement on the media”. The logic of the Federal Government of Somalia dictates dissemination of news on Al-Shabaab’s statements constitutes propaganda for the group.
The local media keeps tabs on the government activities, disagreements on leaders of clan militias mobilised to wage a war against Al-Shabaab. One high profile disagreement last weeks pertains to Dahir Amin Jesow, a federal MP from Hiiraan, who vehemently criticised Ali Jeyte Osman, Governor of Hiiraan, who arbitrarily issued a statement targeting a specific clan in Hiiraan. Without the local media reporting on stories such the Jessow-Jeyte disagreement or Sanbaloolshe’s call for assistance from Puntland in the war against Al-Shabaab the public would not understand the pitfalls into which the government-supported popular uprising against Al-Shabaab has fallen. The Federal Government of Somalia’s media policy is an unnecessarily timely succour for Al-Shabaab.
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