Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Somali government shuts down third radio station

Text of report by privately-owned Somali Radio Simba website on 13 November

The Transitional Federal Government has once again shut down Radio Simba in Mogadishu after government forces stormed into the station and ordered it to be closed.

Government forces, particularly the anti-terrorist unit, entered the station at around 9.00 a.m. local time [0600gmt] and took away the director, Abdullahi Ali Farah alias Atoosh and head of staff, Ahmad Abdullahi Muhammad.

The government forces stormed into the station while the staff were having a meeting and ordered all staff to stay at home until further notice, saying that it was a government order.

The government had previously shut down the station on 11 October. The reason of the closure of the station for the second time is unknown.

The incident comes after the closure of Radio Shabeelle in Mogadishu yesterday by the government.

[The government shut down another station, Radio Banaadir, on 13 November]

(Source: Radio Simba website, Mogadishu, in Somali on 13 Nov 07 via BBC Monitoring/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)