“Working in Somalia is a death sentence”

Following the shutdown of three popular radio stations in Somalia in recent weeks, freelance photojournalist Salah Mohammed Adde was arrested on 15 November by plain clothes officers at the Banadir Football Stadium in north Mogadishu. According to IFEX,

Salah was taking pictures of the demonstrators, who were expressing support for security operations carried out by TFG forces with the backing of Ethiopian troops… According to the records of the National Union of Somali Journalists, eight media employees have been killed so far this year, while 47 journalists and media assistants have been jailed because of their work. No crimes against journalists have been investigated and prosecuted, apart from the recent arrest of the killer of journalist Abdulkadir Mahad Moallim Kaskey, who was shot by clan militiamen in Baidoa. link

Meanwhile, War reporter-come-cartoonist David Axe heads to Mogadishu for two weeks “to cover the Islamic Courts insurgency and African Union peacekeeping”,

“Don’t be daft,” a veteran Africa correspondent told us when he found out we were Mogadishu-bound. It was a sentiment echoed by several formerly Somalia-based Western reporters who have all fled to the relative safety of Nairobi to wait out the current troubles. Every reporter we’ve talked to has tried to talk us out of going. They seem to believe that working in Somalia is a death sentence. link