The Federation of African Journalists (FAJ) today condemned in the strongest possible terms, the cowardly murder of freelance journalist, Abdirisak Ali Abdi in the Central Somali town of Galkayo, Puntland on Tuesday, 18 November, 2014.<u1:p></u1:p>
According to a statement issued by NUSOJ, journalist Abdirisak Ali Abdi, who contributes to Radio Daljir and Horncable Television was shot and killed by two armed assailants. No one had claimed responsibility for the killing, but it is strongly believed that Abdirisak Ali Abdi was killed in relation to his job. Abdirisak Ali Abdi, is the third journalists killed in Somali this year.<u1:p></u1:p>
“This is a cowardly act that is designed to intimidate and frighten journalists from carrying out their duties” said Mohammed Garba FAJ President. This is one killing too many in Somalia, he said. “The Somali authorities must employ concrete strategies to protect the lives of ther citizens, most especially journalists, who continued to pay a heavy price because of the work they do”. We call on the authorities in the autonomous region of Puntland and the Somali Government in general to launch an immediate and independent investigation into the killing of Abdirisak and to do everything possible to ensure that the perpetrators of this heinous crime are brought to justice.<u1:p></u1:p>
FAJ would also like to seize this opportunity to call on the journalists’ fraternity in Somalia to shun the politics of division and to unite and work in solidarity for the interest of their members. Somalia journalists have endured a lot of suffering during the past few years and the need for unity is now more pertinent than ever before in order to jump the persistent hurdles that had confronted the union all these years.<u1:p></u1:p>
For more information, please contact FAJ Secretariat: +221 33 867 95 86/87<u1:p></u1:p>
The FAJ represents more than 50,000 journalists in 40 countries in Africa<u1:p></u1:p>