By Tamara Alfred
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

Hassan Osman Abdi, 29, was shot outside his home in Mogadishu on Saturday and died on the way to the hospital.  Abdi was the director of Shabelle Media Network and had done some freelance work for CNN, according to the National Union of Somali Journalist (NUSOJ) and Reporters Without Borders.

“This is a terrible tragedy, both for Hassan Osman Abdi’s family and for the Somali journalist community,” said Omar Faruk Osman, secretary general of the NUSOJ.

Abdi is the third Shabelle Media Network director to be murdered, said Reporters Without Borders.  Shabelle Media Network director Bashir Nur Gedi was murdered in 2007, and his successor Mukhtar Mohamed Hirabe was killed in 2009.  Local journalists believe that Abdi was likely killed because of his role in reporting on politics and corruption cases.

Abdi’s colleagues and friends told the Associated Press they were too scared to attend his funeral because militants in Somalia have targeted such gatherings in the past.

Journalist Mohamed Bashir Hashi, 23, read a death threat sent to his mobile phone: “If God wills it, you will be the next apostate to be killed.”

“Deciding to stay here is so discouraging,” said Hashi.  “We can’t even pay respects to our fallen colleague since al-Shabaab is threatening us.”

Somalia is the deadliest country in Africa for media personnel, and Mogadishu ranked as one of the world’s most dangerous places for journalists in 2011, according to Reporters Without Borders.  In 2009, the Committee to Protect Journalists ranked Somalia as the most dangerous for journalists when nine journalists were killed.

Abdi’s murder was the second targeted killing of a Somali journalist in less than two months.  Abdisalan Sheik Hassan, a journalist with Horn Cable TV, was shot dead in December.

“We trusted the situation would improve but it’s getting worse now.  Nowhere is safe,” said Mu’awiye Ahmed, a producer and photographer at Horn Cable TV.  However, he vowed to continue working: “They can’t prevent me from my work.”

Amnesty International is urging the international community to call on the Somali authorities to bring to justice those responsible for the attacks on journalists.  “The numerous attacks on journalists in Somalia have been part of an attempt to silence reporting about human rights abuses by all parties to the conflict in the country,” said Erwin van der Borght, Amnesty International’s Director for Africa.

A major international conference on Somalia will take place in London on February 23.  Meanwhile, Somalia’s president strongly condemned the killing of a leading journalist as a “senseless murder,” suggesting that Al-Shabaab may have been responsible.  In a statement, President Sharif Ahmed condemned and expressed grief and sorrow at the murder.  He also urged the public to help the police investigate the killing.

“It has long been the strategy of groups like Al-Shabaab to target public figures in our society with the aim of spreading fear and panic,” said President Ahmed.  “We will not be intimidated or threatened by such odious acts.”

Minister of Information Abdulkadir Hussein Mohamed Jaahweyne called the killing an “outrageous assassination.”  He called Shabelle “one of the most important and pioneering media houses serving the country.”

Shabelle is one of Mogadishu’s most popular radio stations.  It frequently reports on government corruption, abuses by al-Shabaab militants against civilians, and extortion by government troops.

Al-Shabaab appeared to claim responsibility for Abdi’s death, saying on its website that the killing would serve as a “lesson” to other journalists.

For more information, please see:

Amnesty International – Somalia: Journalist killing highlights need for international action on impunity – 30 January 2012

The Washington Post – Fear in Somalia’s journalist community after 2^nd killing in less than 2 months – 30 January 2012

CNN – Somalia president decries journalist killing – 29 January 2012

 

By Zach Waksman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KHARTOUM, SUDAN – Monday signified a potential avoidance of further strife in Sudan.  The rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N), which captured more than 70 road workers, including 29 Chinese, in South Kordofan on Sunday, vowed to release the remaining Chinese from its custody.

Earlier in the day, 14 Chinese laborers were freed from rebel hands by the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF).  They were kidnapped when the insurgents attacked a camp in South Kordofan, a state that is rich in oil and the focus of intense fighting with South Sudan.  Those rescued were found in good condition and brought to Al-Obeid, the capital of neighboring North Kordofan, according to the South Kordofan governor.  The SPLM-N took credit for the abduction, which garnered 70 workers and nine members of the SAF.

“I want to assure you right now they are in safe hands,” SPLM-N spokesman Arnu Ngutulu Lodi told Agence France Presse.

The captured laborers, which consisted of Chinese and Sudanese workers, were building a road to connect remote areas according to media in China.  According to the rebels, they were held for their own safety in the aftermath of a battle with the SAF.  They had been caught in crossfire between the two sides.  The organization has also made clear that it has no issue with China or Chinese people.

“The leadership of the [SPLM-N],” a statement said, is “exerting the maximum effort to obtain accurate information from our forces in the field regarding the Chinese who were detained in Southern Kordofan.”

Secretary General Yasir Arman, though uncertain of whether his group had the workers, said that the SPLM-N is in contact with Beijing as part of the effort to secure their release.

The abduction’s report soon became one of the top stories in China.  The two countries are in the midst of emergency discussions.

China has long been a key player in the development of Sudan, buying billions of dollars’ worth of oil from the turbulent sub-Saharan country.  It considers this necessary because Western nations had already secured pipelines in more stable countries.  It also is aggressive in constructing infrastructure here, and in other similarly dangerous nations.  This has proven to be a boon for business, but also has potentially great costs.

According to IHS Global Insight Asia and Pacific analyst Neil Ashdown, Chinese companies sends more of its people to work on projects abroad than Western firms, which has two effects.  One is that the workers’ families tend to join them, creating even more potential peril.  The other is that the insistence on using its own workers runs the risk of alienating local populations.  But the general outcome is one of efficiency and easy business.  Most countries will not attempt projects of this nature in places like Sudan because of the constant strife.

South Kordofan has been near the center of the current strife along the border between Sudan and South Sudan, which became independent in July 2011.  The SPLM-N is allied with South Sudan.  The two countries are currently mired in discussions over how to share profits from oil, and South Sudan has threatened to cut off the supply until an agreement is reached.  The region produces 500,000 barrels of oil per day, according to the New York Times.

For more information, please see:

BBC — China Doubts Sudan Workers Freed in South Kordofan — 30 January 2012

New York Times — Sudan Says It Freed Some Kidnapped Chinese Workers — 30 January 2012

Sudanese Media Center — Haroun: Armed Forces and Security Authorities Liberate 14 of the Kidnapped Chinese Workers — 30 January 2012

Sudan Tribune — Sudan’s Rebels Promise to Release Kidnapped Chinese Workers — 30 January 2012

Sudan Tribune — Sudan Says 14 Chinese Workers Freed in South Kordofan — 30 January 2012

New York Times — Sudan Rebels Are Said to Hold Road Crew from China — 29 January 2012