African
Right's
A failed attempt by the Somaliland police to close down a new
radio station, Radio Horyaal, might sound like a comedy of errors,
but it is another indication of an increasingly worrying human
rights situation. The independent station has only been
operational for about two weeks, but its very existence appears to
have unnerved the government. Until recently, the government
enjoyed a monopoly on the airwaves, and it has used Radio Hargeisa
as a partisan vehicle to promote its own political interests,
marginalising alternative voices and unwelcome facts and views.
When Radio Horyaal first broadcast, Ali Ahmed Ghelle, the deputy
Minister of Information, immediately fired two journalists working
for Radio Hargeisa, Hoda Ahmed Qarboshe and Ahmed Sheikh Elmi, who
had taken part in its programmes. Other journalists from Radio
Hargeisa were dismissed in subsequent days. Two other people
associated with the radio were required to report to the Criminal
Investigations Department (CID) every evening to answer questions,
principally about the physical location of the radio. In the
meantime, unwilling to believe that the radio is beamed into
Somaliland from abroad, the government has sent people all over
the country to scout for the radio which it has linked to one of
the two opposition parties, KULMIYE.
On Monday, 4 April, about 30 heavily-armed policemen forced their
way into the headquarters of KULMIYE in the capital, Hargeisa, at
about 5:00 p.m., conducting a thorough search of the offices for
the elusive radio. Other armed policemen stayed outside and
surrounded the premises. The secretary-general of the party, Daud
Mohamed Ghelle, arrived as the police began their hunt. He later
told journalists that he asked the policemen the purpose of their
visit, which they did not reveal, and whether they had a search
warrant, which they did not.
A huge crowd soon gathered at the party’s offices, including
journalists, when its leaders and supporters turned up in full
force to confront the police, who had in the meantime received
huge reinforcements. The commanders leading the police, Abdillahi
Fadal Iman, in charge of police operations for Somaliland; the
police commander for Hargeisa; and the head of the CID, argued
that the radio was located on the laptop of Daud Mohamed Ghelle
and said they wanted to take Ghelle himself, as well as the
laptop, into custody. There was a heated exchange between the
police, who admitted they did not have legal authorization, but
said they had been given “orders”, and the leadership of KULMIYE
who refused to surrender the laptop or to allow Ghelle to be taken
by the police. The showdown attracted more and more people who
became vocal in denouncing the police action.
The head of the Electoral Commission, Ahmed Haji Ali, came, along
with some members of the Commission, the deputy speaker of
Parliament and a number of elders, to try and defuse a potentially
explosive situation. KULMIYE rejected the suggestion that they
should hand the laptop over to the Commission, insisting on the
right to know why their offices had been forcibly entered and
ransacked in a manner that was evidently illegal and
unconstitutional.
The police eventually withdrew at about 8:45 p.m. after they heard
the nightly programme from Radio Horyaal and realized that it was
not being broadcast from the building they themselves had
surrounded. Ironically, the Landcruisers carrying the well-armed
policemen were part of the Special Protection Unit set up to fight
terrorism and to protect foreigners after several foreigners were
assassinated.
In an interview with the Somali Service of the BBC, the Minister
of the Interior, Ismail Adan Osman, insisted that a search warrant
was not necessary because the radio is “illegal.” And yet Article
32 of the Constitution of Somaliland guarantees freedom of
association, freedom of expression and freedom of the press in
unequivocal terms. It states specifically that “the press and all
other media are part of the rights citizens enjoy for expressing
their opinions” and adds that “the press and media are entitled to
their independence” and forbids any step to undermine this
independence. Furthermore, Law No.27 gives the citizens of
Somaliland the right to establish private radios, newspapers and
TV stations. This law has been passed by both houses of parliament
and signed by the President. Somaliland already has both private
newspapers and a private TV station.
The government’s argument that the radio in question is “illegal”
because it is not registered in Somaliland is irrelevant because
the radio, as the government has been informed on many occasions,
is based in a European country where it is registered. And there
is no law that requires the citizens of Somaliland to acquire a
license from the government for the right to listen to a
foreign-registered radio.
It is not clear exactly who gave the police this assignment. The
police force is answerable to the Minister of the Interior, but it
is possible that the orders came from more senior quarters. What
is clear, however, is that the Government of Somaliland is
intolerant of dissent and is increasingly engaged in an open
assault on the rights guaranteed in the Constitution of
Somaliland, in this instance freedom of expression. The refusal of
the government to allow the establishment of competitive radio
stations is counterproductive and backward looking in an age where
information persistently flows across borders. It is particularly
difficult to square with talk about progress towards
“democratisation” and the desire for international recognition for
Somaliland. Independent radio can make analysis and debate on
difficult issues accessible to ordinary people. This is a
necessary part of ensuring that Somalilanders are well informed
and able to generate the new ideas essential to build a better
future for all the people of Somaliland. Unfortunately the
experiences of Radio Horyaal would seem to suggest that the safest
place to encourage debate in Somaliland is from outside the
country. It is important that the government take immediate steps
to correct this troubling impression and safeguard the rights
enshrined in the Constitution.
By. Rakiya Omar
Source:Geeska Afrika
