Radio station in Puntland shut down over rebel interview

Puntland police on Thursday raided and closed an independent radio station in Puntland State, the latest in a string of violence against the media and its professionals in Somalia.

Clutching AK-47 rifles, several policemen stormed into the newsroom of Garowe-based Radio Daljir barely a day after the station interviewed former Bari Governor, who is allegedly leading an armed struggle against the administration of Puntland, according to reliable sources.

“They ordered the staff to close down the radio,” said the source.

On Wednesday, Puntland information minister, Mohamud Hassan So’adde, issued a statement threatening the journalists with “bullets barely a day after he issued a statement warning local journalist against reporting “terrorist elements” in Puntland.

Rights groups accused Soadde of gagging the press when he issued statement forbidding journalists from running interviews with certain individuals, or even reporting on military matters.

Puntland journalists and media groups, including National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), have condemned the Minister’s threat which is  the latest in a string of violence against the media and its professionals in Somalia.

The Puntland government has increasingly cracked down on the media, accusing them of undermining the security, and has arrested journalists and media house managers.

Somalia is considered the most dangerous country on the African continent for journalists. In 2012, the Committee to Project Journalists (CPJ) reported that 12 journalists were killed in Somalia, the second-highest in the world after Syria, with most of the killings occurring in Mogadishu.