UNESCO chief denounces killing of another Somali journalist

Condemning the murder of a radio journalist in Somalia, the head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today called for urgent measures to halt attacks on media professionals in the country.

Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura said that “Abdulkadir Mahad Moallim Kaskey and all too many of his colleagues in Somalia have become targets for those opposed to open democratic debate.”

Calling for urgent action to bring an end to attacks on Somali media workers, he added that “guns must not be allowed to take the place of information, reasoning and persuasion.”

According to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Mr. Kaskey, the regional correspondent of Radio Banadir in the south-western province of Gedo, died after unknown gunmen opened fire on the minibus he was riding in the village of El Ilan.

His murder is the most recent in a spate of attacks against the media, bringing to seven the number of journalists killed this year in a country that has had no functioning central government since the regime of Muhammad Siad Barre was toppled in 1991.

Earlier this month, HornAfrik Radio journalist Mahad Ahmed Elmi was gunned down by four unknown men. Ali Iman Sharmarke, founder and chairman of HornAfrik, was killed in his car by a remotely detonated mine as he returned from his colleague’s funeral. Reuters News Agency Reporter Sahal Abdulle was also injured in the blast.