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PRESS RELEASE/ALERT - SOMALIA

27 April 2004

Two journalists detained

SOURCE: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), New York

(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a 26 April 2004 CPJ press release:

SOMALIA: Two journalists detained in Somalia

New York, April 26, 2004-CPJ is deeply concerned about reports that two
journalists have been detained in separate incidents in the self-declared
autonomous region of Puntland, northeast Somalia, and the self-declared
republic of Somaliland.

Abdishakur Yusuf Ali, editor-in-chief of the independent War-Ogaal newspaper
in Bossasso, Puntland, was arrested on April 21, because of an article
accusing Puntland Finance Minister Abdirahman Mohamud Farole of corruption,
said local journalists. The article claimed that Farole had sold off food
aid donated by the international community.

Abdishakur has not been formally charged.

Meanwhile Abdirahman Haji Dahir, a reporter for the independent Somaliland
daily Haatuf, was arrested early this morning in the port city of Berbera
because of an article that mentioned differences between Somaliland
President Dahir Riyale Kahin and his vice president, said local journalists.

CPJ sources said that by evening local time Dahir was still detained at
Berbera's main police station but had not been formally charged. They said
police questioned him, asking if he was the author of an article that
appeared in the April 15 edition of Haatuf. The article discussed the
reasons for Kahin's current visit to Berbera. It also discussed alleged
differences between Kahin and Vice President Ahmed Yusuf Yassin over the
need for a cabinet reshuffle.

CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to
safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information about press
conditions in Somalia, visit www.cpj.org.

For further information, contact Africa Program Coordinator Julia Crawford
(x112) or Research Associate Adam Posluns at CPJ, 330 Seventh Ave., New
York, NY 10001, U.S.A., tel: +1 212 465 1004, fax: +1 212 465 9568, e-mail:
[email protected], [email protected], Internet: http://www.cpj.org/

The information contained in this press release/alert is the sole
responsibility of CPJ. In citing this material for broadcast or publication,
please credit CPJ.
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