Media freedom is on the slide despite a better political climate

Media freedom is on the slide despite a better political climate

In Somaliland, an autonomous region in the country’s north, independence-minded leaders tout media freedom as one of several democratic achievements. But they are beginning to display some of their big brothers’ ugly traits. In April an off-duty policeman and an accomplice attacked the offices of Hubaal, a newspaper, in Hargeisa, the capital. Its manager, Mohamed Ahmed Jama Aloley, was beaten and shot. He suffered a broken arm before colleagues could wrestle his assailants to the ground.
The paper’s woes were far from over. In June it was suspended after publishing a series of articles criticising the regional president, Ahmed Mahamoud Silanyo. The editor-in-chief, Hassan Hussein Kefkef, received a two-year prison sentence for slander and false reporting. Out on bail pending an appeal, he complains of a government “in the shadows”.
Unlike in the rest of Somalia, the laws of Somaliland explicitly protect the freedom of the press. Yet few follow them. Nonetheless, Somaliland’s media industry is thriving. Hargeisa alone boasts 13 newspapers publishing in Somali and English.