Since the start of the year, two journalists have been killed, at least seven have been injured and several others have been arrested or barred from doing their job. On New Year’s Day, a member of a pro-government militia gunned down Radio Shabelle reporter Hassan Mayow Hassan. In broad daylight, the director of Somalia’s largest media organization, HornAfrik, Said Tahlil Ahmed, was killed in February as he walked through a Mogadishu market. Journalists who cover clashes between Islamist militants and armed groups that support the federal transitional government are working with little protection, and their assailants often attack them with impunity.

In April, veteran journalist, Nur Muse Hussein “Inji” of Quranic radio IQK was shot two times in his leg in Beledweyn, central Somalia, when he was trying to cover fighting between militias of the Hiran Regional Administration and Hisbul Islam, a movement that operates in the southern central regions of Somalia. He remains in critical condition.

In the most recent attack, four journalists were wounded after artillery hit an Al- Shabaab Islamic group press conference in southern Mogadishu. Other journalists dispersed from the vicinity after the shelling, believed to be led by forces loyal to the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia. The wounded journalists were taken immediately to the hospital and shortly thereafter released.

The Board of WAN urges the opposing sides to end the violence against journalists and secure a safer environment for journalists while upholding international standards of freedom of expression and freedom of the press. Continuing intimidation against journalists is preventing coverage at a crucial time when political conflict is intensifying in the country.