Broadcasters back on air

HornAfrik radio and television, Shabelle Media Network, Radio Voice of Holy Koran and the offices of Al Jazeera Television have resumed normal broadcasting after discussions with the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), media officials told IRIN on Tuesday.

"We are back on air. We resumed normal programming at 2:10 p.m. local time," Muhammad Amin Sheikh Adow, the deputy chairman of the Shabelle Media Network, told IRIN.

Civil society groups and the journalists’ union, which had criticised the government's closure of the stations on Monday, welcomed the turnaround.

"We welcome the news that the stations are back on air. I hope that the government will not resort to such drastic measures again," a spokesman for the Civil Society in Action, an umbrella organisation, told IRIN.

"Let's hope that in the future they [government] will expend their energies on finding solutions to the country's unending problems. The people have suffered from drought, floods, and war, and are expecting the government to deliver on addressing these problems, not worrying about the media."

"Of course we welcome the new development but there must be a way to avoid such actions in the future. I hope nothing like this happens again," said Omar Faruk Osman, secretary-general of the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ).

Osman said: "The government must start a dialogue with the media to make sure that the media is not subjected to arbitrary decrees."

HornAfrik managing partner, Ali Iman Sharmarke, said managers from the broadcasters went "as instructed yesterday" to the offices of the National Security Agency (NSA) and met its commander, Gen. Muhammad Aden Darwish.

"The general basically said they [the NSA] were concerned about the security situation in the city and the way the media can contribute to peace and security or make it worse."

Sharmarke said the government had not given any explanation as to why the shutdown had been ordered but said they "wanted the media to assist in establishing peace and security".

He said the broadcasters told the government officials that "it was the responsibility of the government to present its case to the people through the media, by being accessible. They also must have competent people to represent their views in the media."

Sources in Mogadishu said the radio stations had been targeted for perceived bias against the TFG and being "in favour of the previous Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) administration".

The radio stations had been carrying programmes debating the pros and cons of martial law and its effects, sources said.

On 13 January, the interim parliament passed a law allowing the government to declare martial law for up to three months.

The TFG, backed by Ethiopian forces, took Mogadishu, the capital, on 28 December without force after the UIC abandoned the city a day earlier.

Abdirahman Dinari, the TFG spokesman, confirmed that the radio stations had been allowed to resume operating. "We have allowed them to resume their work. We discussed with them the best ways to promote security and we asked them to respect the martial law."

Dinari said: "The Ministry of Information in consultation with the media practitioners will come up with a code of conduct for the press."

ah/mw