Like al Shabab, Somali government is harassing journalists and stifling freedom of speech

Abukar Sanei
Abukar Sanei is a Ph.D. candidate in Mass Communication at Ohio University.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Somali journalists are between the hammer of al Shabab and the anvil of the government, as each side tries to block the information it doesn’t like from the public.

For years, al Shabab has been the most prolific killer and harasser of journalists in the country, targeting in particular those who report critically on its brutal tactics and crimes. But the government has recently started to ape the terrorists’ tactics, harassing and imprisoning journalists, whose only crime was to differ with the government’s media policies or dared to write about or broadcast its flaws. 

On Oct. 8, 2022, the country’s Ministry of Information banned local journalists and media outlets from publishing or covering what it called “dissemination of extremism ideology messages both from traditional media broadcasts and social media.” 

The militants’ “voices, photos and messages shall not be disseminated. It’s a crime to do that,” Deputy Minister for Information Abdirahman Yusuf Al-Adaala told journalists last year. 

Using that ban, the government has so far suspended more than 40 social media pages and ordered Internet service providers to take down all social media pages that are allegedly “associated with al Shabab.”

 “The Federal Government of Somalia considers as a crime the act of disseminating the messages of the terrorists,” the Ministry of Information said in a statement.  

The government took these measures without consulting media stakeholders, who have warned that such a ban could “unduly restrict otherwise legitimate expression and press freedom in the country.” 

Apart from barring journalists from spreading al-Shabaab messages, there were almost no specifics on what the phrase “extremism ideology messages” actually meant, further confusing media practitioners in the country.

 “[W]e are concerned that the new directive might be used to silence the legitimate critics of the government and its security forces including journalists, human rights defenders, independent researchers, analysts and others,” said five organizations, including Somali Independent Media Houses Association, Somali Journalists Syndicate and Federation of Somali Journalists that also decried the government’s blockage of Telegram, a messaging app, in the country. 

The organizations said the directive’s vagueness could only increase the danger journalists, who’re already suffering from poor working conditions, low pay and operate in hostile environments, face in gathering and disseminating information. 

Predictably, the militants issued a counter-directive, worsening security concerns for journalists. 

It goes without saying that Somali journalists are under attack. 

For the eighth straight year, Somalia is the “worst offender” on the Global Impunity Index, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, which documented the killing of 85 journalists — either murdered or died during dangerous assignments –- since 1992, a year after warlords toppled the country’s last central government.  

The aim of those targeting journalists is to hide the truth or stop any attempt to hold officials and criminals, like al-Shabaab, accountable. 

But a stifled media is the least Somalia needs at this critical juncture in its history. Somali citizens, who are killed almost daily by different actors and circumstances, are in dire need of credible media outlets and intrepid journalists who can inform them about what is happening in their country. 

While the overall performance of the country’s media has seen a marked improvement since the 1960s, when there were almost no independent media outlets, yet the risk to individual journalists and media houses has increased exponentially since the country’s central government collapsed in 1991. 

Earlier this year, the National Union of Somali Journalists, or NUSOJ, issued a grim report on the country’s state of the media in which it documented 97 cases of attacks against journalists and media organizations. 

“The cases covered by the (NUSOJ) monitors bear witness to the fact that journalists and news media organizations are targeted because of their work as watchdogs,” said the report, revealing that in just one month al Shabab murdered two broadcast journalists in separate bomb blasts. 

Last year alone, 56 journalists suffered various forms of repression as a result of their work, including arrests, torture, threats of violence, confiscation of equipment and travel bans, NUSOJ said.  

The Hargeisa-based administration, where local authorities carried out mass arrests and imprisoned 15 media workers, topped the list, a painful reminder on how even regions that claim to espouse freedom of speech target journalists.

“[A]ttacks on female journalists were all too common with 28 cases of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) reported, the highest number in the Banadir Region,” said the report. “Women media professionals were also subjected to threats of rape and online harassment often channeled through their social media accounts.” 

The national government should act like a responsible entity and protect journalists instead of harassing them for doing their work. 

Issuing draconian directive or throwing journalists in jail, as the government did to Abdalla Mumin, the Secretary General of the Somali Journalist Syndicate, won’t help authorities win the narrative war in the country. 

The biggest newsmaking item in the country is insecurity and al-Shabaab is the main driver of it. If the government wants to win this information war, it has to up its game and defeat al-Shabaab.

Banning reports on al-Shabaab’s crimes is not the right approach. It could well be counter-productive and many Somalis could easily conclude that the government’s objective of the ban was to hide its own incompetence. 

The State-run media outlets need to employ experienced journalists who can shoot down the terrorists’ propaganda and discredit their warped ideology. There are many crimes committed by al-Shabaab that the government can use to convey its message. Journalism, if used professionally and responsibly, can play a vital role in enlightening the public about al-Shabaab’s evil acts and intentions.

In a recent discussion on Twitter Space, I asked Al-Adaala, the Deputy Minister of Information, if interviewing an al-Shabaab leader constitutes a “propaganda for al-Shabaab”? Unfortunately, he provided no satisfactory answer, just reiterating the government’s earlier position that it “does not tolerate any propaganda for al-Shabab.” It’s unfortunate that the government itself cannot even define its directive.

Authorities shouldn’t resort to questionable decrees when there are sufficient laws on what to do when a media house or a journalist works on behalf of al-Shabaab.

The fight against al-Shabaab is not a government responsibility alone, but it’s a fight for every Somali citizen. The media and the public have a stake in the effort to defeat the terrorists. It’s, therefore, incumbent upon the government to win over both parties in its war to kill al-Shabaab’s messages. 

The government must allow independent media houses and journalists to do their noble work of bringing unfiltered news about the war against terrorists to the Somali people. Access to information is a right for all Somalis. The government can’t take away the right to information from the Somali public through an ambiguous directive.

Silencing critical voices against the government whether they come from the public or from the media is unacceptable and must be condemned.

The government’s abuse and harassment of journalists have the potential to impede efforts toward an informed, peaceful nation that respects freedom of speech.