Somalia shuts down broadcasters

Way to do democracy, guys!

Must have Bushco members advising them.

Remember this is government that is backed by the warlords unlike the Islamists who actually brought peace to the nation for a while.

Excerpt BBC report (same title as above):

Somalia's main broadcasters have been ordered to close, shortly after the interim president set up a new team to end the "chaos" in the capital.

Three top Somali radio stations and al-Jazeera TV are affected. They have been ordered to appear before the national security agency.

Three local radio stations received a letter, signed by Mogadishu security chief Colonel Ahmed Hassan Ali, ordering them to close immediately:

• Shabelle Radio
• Radio HornAfrik
• Voice of the Koran radio.

Correspondents say the radio stations have stopped broadcasting.

Shabelle Media deputy chairman Mohamed Amin told the AFP news agency he was "disappointed" by the measure.

Government spokesman Abduraman Dinari told another local radio station that those affected were "instigating violence", AFP reports.

"We are not undermining the freedom of expression, we are ensuring the security of the Somali people," he said.

Yeah, I'm sure that Idi Amin, Papa and Baby Doc of Haiti, and Saddam Hussein were also only concerned about the security of the people, as well.

Please read this usenet copy of an Economist report that fills in the blanks in what supposed neutral American journalists leave out, like the Islamists were not the unequivocal bad guys, nor the Provisional (warlord backed) government some kind of democratic good guy group.

You'd have thought that the Rendon group had hit the streets of Mogadishu passing out white hats to government officials the way most of our press is treating their duty to accurately report and evaluate what happened in the nation.

You might also want to read a previous post here Somalia is the new Pakistan.

Maybe this will settle down later, but until the US press starts giving a more even view of opposing sides in this political conflict, I have little hope that we will ever get balanced news in the mainstream without dedicated and strong minded bloggers constantly taunting them to do better, .

tags: somalia  al qaeda  tunisia  kenya  military  eithiopia  warlords  africa  democracy  

links: digg this    del.icio.us    technorati    reddit