HornAfrik Radio Intentionally Bombed By The Ethiopians

[Castro]

Somali media station bombing 'no coincidence'

 

By Andrew Cawthorne

 

Nairobi - The co-owner of a major Somali media house shelled during weekend battles in Mogadishu said on Sunday the attack had the hallmarks of an attempt to muzzle journalists trying to cover the escalating war.

 

The private broadcaster's compound was hit by seven shells on Saturday - apparently from Ethiopian troop positions near the presidential palace. Buildings were smashed, four staff suffered injuries and HornAfrik went off air, witnesses said.

 

"Seven artillery hits is more than random," HornAfrik boss Ali Iman Sharmarke said, saying the TV and radio station was lodging a formal protest with Somalia's interim government.

 

The government, backed by its Ethiopian military allies, is fighting to contain an insurgency by Islamic militants and some armed elements of the local ****** clan. At least 200 people have died this week in the latest spike in violence.

 

"There is a possibility that the intention of the Ethiopians and the TFI (transitional government) was to deny our global audience a chance to know what is going on in Somalia," added Sharmarke, who left Mogadishu days ago to visit Nairobi.

 

Somali and Ethiopian officials could not be immediately reached to answer the imputation. But they have repeatedly denied suppressing local media unless they break the law.

 

Ties between the government of President Abdullahi Yusuf and the media have been strained since Somali-Ethiopian troops toppled Islamist leaders at the New Year.

 

Several local outlets have been briefly shut, while Arab network Al Jazeera was recently told to stop operations.

 

"There is a general harassment of the media by the government and the Ethiopians," Sharmarke said. "They cannot tolerate the fight for Somalis to have free information."

 

Saturday's seven hits on HornAfrik damaged the cafeteria, a water supply, antennae and the parking lot, he added.

 

Four staff were hurt, one - who also films for Reuters - so badly he was being evacuated by air to Kenya on Sunday.

 

But the broadcaster would be back on the air by Monday, Sharmarke said, "if they don't bomb us again".

 

The media boss rejected insinuations from some officials that HornAfrik, whose executives are from the ****** clan, was siding against the government, whose president is *****.

 

"We cannot control the fact that we are ******, but we do control our journalistic content, and I challenge anyone to find one item of our output that does not conform to the highest standards and ethics," he said.

 

"And remember the Islamists also closed us down in Kismayo (town) and accused of us being Christian and anti-Islam."

 

Sharmarke said the recent fighting in Mogadishu was appalling even by the terrible standards of recent times.

 

"In nine years here, I have not seen such a situation - indiscriminate shelling of the city, whether it hits mothers, children or mosques. It's just an open field," he said.

 

"I do not think there will be a winner at the end of the day from this killing of the mothers and children of Somalis."

 

Reuters