The Somali Islamist insurgent group Hizbul Islam has warned Somali media against covering celebrations of the country’s 50th anniversary today, according to news reports.
Hizbul Islam chief Mo’allin Hashi Farah told local radio stations that if they covered today’s celebrations they would “face bad consequences,” a report from Sapa-AFP said.
“We call on the Muslim people to avoid commemorating what they call the national day, as it was inherited from the infidels,” Farah reportedly said.
Both Hizbul Islam and their powerful rivals, Al Shabab, have regularly imposed repressive edicts on Somali radio stations, which form the most important news and entertainment medium in the war-torn country. Stations have already been banned from playing music or broadcasting news that references the UN-backed Transitional Federal Government.
The only radio stations that can circumvent this rule are Radio Mogadishu, which is run by the embattled Somali government, and Radio Bar-Kulan, a UN-funded station which broadcasts from neighbouring Kenya. According to a report on Mareeg.com, Shabelle Radio has also refused to implement the gag order and has begun to air music again.
“It is unfortunate that 50 years after the end of colonial rule in Somalia, the media there is far from free,” said IPI Press Freedom Manager Anthony Mills. “We again urge all parties in Somalia to recognize the right of journalists to gather and transmit information freely and without fear of arrest or physical harm.”