Somalia / Journalist murdered on eve of World Press Freedom Day, fifth this year in Somalia

PARIS, France, May 3, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Reporters Without Borders is dismayed to learn that radio journalist Farhan James Abdulle was murdered yesterday evening near Galkayo, the capital of the north-central region of Mudug. Two unidentified individuals shot him several times in the street as he was returning to his home in the village of Garsor.

“We had just issued a statement for World Press Freedom Day condemning the fact that 21 news providers had been killed worldwide since the start of the year and now this new tragedy has confirmed our analysis that journalists are being attacked and murdered at an astonishing pace,” Reporters Without Borders said.

“Abdulle is the fifth journalist to be killed this year in Somalia, the deadliest country in Africa for the media. We urge the local authorities to find his murderers and to combat impunity for violence against journalists.”

As Reporters Without Borders said in its World Press Freedom Day release, news providers have been killed at the rate of one every five days since the start of 2012.

Aged 27, Abdulle had worked for Galkayo-based Radio Daljir as a reporter, producer and presenter ever since its launch seven years ago. He was also a well-known campaigner for journalists' safety as a member of the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), a Reporters Without Borders partner organization.

His murder comes just two months after another journalist, Ali Ahmed Abdi, was killed in similar circumstances in Galkayo (http://en.rsf.org/somalia-young-journalist-gunned-down-in-05-03-2012,41995.html).

More information on the first four journalists murdered in Somali in 2012:

http://en.rsf.org/somalia.html