Somalia: Puntland announces orders in tense relation with media

GAROWE, Somalia-Puntland government in northern Somalia has set a July 25 deadline for compliance by local media houses amid tense relationship with the press, Garowe Online reports. 

In a new rule—seen as yet another restriction on the freedom of press—Puntland Information Minister Mohamud Hassan So’adde ordered news outlets to send a list containing operating journalists to the ministry for registration before July 25. 

The government letter dated July 9 also asked for addresses and accredited position of each media worker. 

The instructions have come in the context of tense ties between the state’s controversial Minister So’adde and the members of the press, who accused the former of enforcing censorship.  

So’adde recently threatened journalists with “bullets” in deliberate defiance to tenets of free speech enshrined in the regional constitution.  

In late June, the government closed down independent radio station Daljir for interviewing former Bari Governor Abdisamad Mohamed Galan.  

The U.S. Mission to Somalia said the following day, it was alarmed by the closure that contradicts the right of free expression. 

Radio Daljir has been allowed to resume broadcasting on its FM stations.

GAROWEONLINE