RSF protests against closure of SBC media house

The French-based rights group Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) has protested against the closure of the privately owned Somali Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) by the authorities of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, and called for the measure to be reversed at once.

The SBC, based in the region's commercial capital, Bosaso, was closed down on 22 May on the orders of the Abdullahi Yusuf administration, Ali Abdi Aware, the SBC's manager, told IRIN at the time.

"This is a serious blow to media diversity in the region and is not the first time press freedom has been threatened in Puntland, where three journalists were arrested last year," an RSF press statement on Monday quoted RSF Secretary-General Robert Menard.

In a letter from Menard, addressed to the Puntland leader Col Abdullahi Yusuf, RSF called on him to ensure that journalists could work freely and safely in the region.

A statement issued by Abdullahi Yusuf's chief of cabinet, Isma'il Warsame, made available to IRIN, accused the SBC of engaging in the "dissemination of hate material or instigation of violence among the people of Puntland".

The Puntland authorities had also accused the SBC of breaking the region's press laws, according to Aware.

Other sources in Bosaso told IRIN last week the SBC had been targeted for perceived bias against Abdullahi Yusuf, and "supporting and the interim government in Mogadishu and Jama Ali Jama [the former, elected Puntland leader]".

Aware denied any partiality in the SBC's reporting. "We have been impartial to a fault in our reporting. We have not supported Jama Ali or Abdullahi Yusuf," he said. "In fact, we challenged the authorities to come up with a single programme that could be construed as biased."

Abdullahi Yusuf's forces took control of Bosaso on 8 May, after forces loyal to his rival for the presidency of the region, Jama Ali Jama, withdrew without a fight.