- Somali’s radical militant group, Al-Shabaab has abducted a reporter in the country on Sunday, local newspapers have reported.
The Committee to Protect Jounalists said Ali Yussuf Adan, a reporter with the Somaliweyn Media Center, a private broadcaster, in the town of Wanlaweyn, northwest of the capital Mogadishu, is being held in a prison in the Al-Shabaab-held coastal city of Merca.
“The abduction and detention of Ali Yussuf Adan is not justified under any legal system,” said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney. “We call on Al-Shabaab to release him immediately.”
The motive behind the abduction is still unknown, Somaliweyn Director Abukar Hassan Kabar told CPJ.
CPJ said that Mr Adan was picked up on Sunday morning, shortly after reporting Al-Shabaab’s alleged killing of a man accused of being late to a Saturday prayer mandatory under their version of Sharia law.
Al Shabaab, who professes loyalty to al-Qaeda, wants to impose a harsh version of Sharia law in the anarchic Horn of Africa nation and have carried out numerous executions.
Local and foreign press freedom activists have also blamed the group for threatening the media and assassinating a number of prominent journalists in the last three years.
With six journalists killed in relation to their work, Somalia ranked among the world's deadliest countries in 2009, surpassing hotspots like Iraq and Pakistan, according to CPJ.
CPJ said the threats had forced many media professionals to flee Somalia in recent years, leaving a void in reporting on one of the continent's longest running wars.
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.
front page
| news
| countries
| archive
| currencies
| news alerts login
| about afrol News
| contact
| advertise
| español