Islamist militias, Al-Shabaab, Hizb-Al-Islam, Somalia

There is no sign of any respite for Somalia after 20 years of war. Islamist insurgents, previously united against Ethiopia's troops and now embroiled in internal rivalry and conflicts, have contributed to the chaos since 2009 by waging a war of harassment against the fragile transitional government. The bearers of a strict version of Islam, they ban cinema, video games and radio music. Al-Shabaab (The Youth) has emerged as the biggest and best organized of these groups. It wages a campaign of terror and targeted murders against leading members of Somali civil society who are, it says, guilty of serving the interests of the "Crusaders" of the West. Dozens of teachers, academics and politicians have been killed.

The victims include journalists, who are regarded almost by definition as enemies. Twelve of them have been killed since 2009, either caught in crossfire or directly targeted by the various militia factions. Radio Shabelle has paid a particularly heavy price, losing its manager, Mukhtar Mohamed Hirabe, and three of its reporters in the space of a few months. Other Radio Shabelle employees fled the country. Al-Shabaab and Hizb-Al-Islam now control a large part of the country, have their own prisons, carry out arrests and execute sentences. They also issue directives to journalists about how to cover the news and, in 2010, seized control of about 10 radio stations, which now broadcast their political and religious propaganda.

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