By Zach Waksman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Al-Shabab, a militant Islamist group, ordered the International Committee of the Red Cross to cease its humanitarian aid operations in the areas of Somalia that it controls on Monday.  Despite international concerns about the effects, the group made this decision due to alleged concerns about the way the ICRC handled food distribution.

In a statement delivered on multiple forums, including Twitter, Al-Shabab said that the ICRC “repeatedly betrayed the trust conferred on it by the local population and, in recent weeks, falsely accused the mujahideen [al-Shabab fighters] of hindering food distribution.”  Its Office for Supervising the Affairs of Foreign Agencies claimed to have conducted an inspection of food in ICRC warehouses and found that “70 per cent of the food stored for distribution was deemed unfit for human consumption.”  The organization also claimed to have set more than 2,000 tons of expired food on fire.

The Red Cross was one of the last international humanitarian organizations permitted to continue operations in regions under the organization’s control.  In November, the Al-Shabab banned 16 aid organizations, including several under the auspices of the United Nations, from continuing their operations.  It asked those that it considered to have “engaged in activities deemed detrimental to the attainment of an Islamic state” to leave.  It claimed, among other allegations, that some groups tried to exaggerate the scale of the situation for political reasons and even attempted to convert Muslims to Christianity.

On January 12, the ICRC decided to suspend distribution to more than 1.1 million people in southern and central Somalia after local armed groups interfered with delivery of food and seeds for farmers.  It continued to provide emergency aid and clean water.  The timing could not have been worse.  Those regions are still in the midst of a massive drought that has created famine conditions for over a year.

In response to the ban, the UN called for Al-Shabab to reconsider, believing that its decision would make conditions worse.

“Over the past couple of months, ICRC distributed food to over one million Somalis in crisis; leaving so many vulnerable Somalis without food will endanger their lives and could also result in pushing a large number of people back into famine, reversing any gains made,” said Mark Bowden, the UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia. “We appeal to all factions in Somalia to allow humanitarian actors to reach people most in need, wherever they are.”

An aid worker who asked to remain anonymous told IRIN that the best move might be to work with the organization instead of against it.

“They [Al-Shabab] are seeing everything as an attempt to destroy or harm them,” he said.  “Maybe it is time to open channels of communication, preferably by the international community. Surely, if they [the international community] can talk to the Taliban, they can talk to Al-Shabab to save lives.”

On Thursday, possibly in response to Al-Shabab, Turkey and the Turkish Red Crescent sent 5.8 million kilograms of food and other equipment to Somalia.

For more information, please see:

Hiiraan — Turkish Red Crescent Sends Aid to Somalia — 02 February 2012

CNN — Militant Group Kicks Aid Group Out of Regions in Somalia — 31 January 2012

IRIN — Somalia: UN Calls for Access to the Needy — 31 January 2012

Al Jazeera — Al-Shabab Bans Red Cross from Somalia — 30 January 2012

BBC — Somalia’s Al-Shabab Militants Ban Red Cross Aid Work — 30 January 2012

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