International News
AU forces say four soldiers responsible for journalist’s death
September 26, 2011 · 16 Comments
New York, September 26, 2011—Four African Union soldiers deployed in Somalia have been suspended and returned to their home country of Burundi for potential trial after an internal investigation found them responsible for the shooting death of a Malaysian journalist this month. In a statement issued today, the African Union Mission in Somalia, or AMISOM, apologized for the shooting, which injured a second Malaysian journalist.
The troops fired on a Malaysian humanitarian aid convoy traveling to its base at the Mogadishu airport, according to witnesses cited in international news reports. Killed in the September 2 gunfire was Noramfaizul Mohd, 39, a cameraman for Malaysia’s national Bernama TV who was accompanying the humanitarian mission. Aji Saregar, 27, a camera operator for Malaysia’s TV3, was struck in the right hand by gunfire.
AMISOM’s three-paragraph statement characterized the killing as “accidental” but did not specify the soldiers’ actions or describe their level of culpability. In its statement, AMISOM said it “recommended” that Burundian authorities bring the four soldiers to trial “according to their country’s military and judicial processes.”
“The statement from AMISOM is an important first step is establishing accountability, and we now urge Burundian authorities to follow through on the mission’s recommendation,” CPJ East Africa Consultant Tom Rhodes said. “The AU, for its part, must double its efforts to end indiscriminate shootings of journalists in Somalia.”
In August, CPJ reported that Farah Hassan, a logistics manager for Radio Simba in Mogadishu, was killed by gunfire that witnesses said came from an area controlled by AU forces. Human rights groups have accused AMISOM of shelling areas densely populated by civilians, The Associated Press reported.
Somalia is the most dangerous country in Africa for the press, with 35 journalists killed in direct relation to their work since 1992, according to CPJ research.
Email this story
By Mo Guled
Tags: AMISOM, Arican Union Soldiers, Malaysia TV3, Somalia, Somalilandpress
Readers Comments (16)
Somaliland
SOMALILAND: 1100 teachers complete teacher training courses
HARGEISA – Vice-President Abdulrahman A. Ismail on Tuesday congratulated more than 1,100 teachers who concluded school-based teacher training courses in the capital. Teachers from universities, secondary ...
Somaliland: Africa’s unofficial country
HARGEISA — Most local banknotes in Somaliland are only worth pennies, so a brick of money is usually needed to buy a meal of camel ...
Somaliland:VP meets World Bank Officials
Somaliland Vice President Hon Abdirahman Abdillahi Ismael (saylici) has met with a delegation from the World Bank who are currently in the country ...
SOMALILAND: Land dispute leaves seven dead and scores wounded
- UPDATED HARGEISA — In a gory fallout of a dispute over land, at least four civilians were shot by armed security forces in the capital’s ...
Somaliland mourns Dr Abdishakur Sheikh Ali Jowhar
BORAMA – Hundreds of people on Monday mourned the death of psychiatrist Dr. Abdishakur Sh. Ali Jowhar who was killed in a road accident on ...
Your Say
Dr Jowhar: We lost a friend, a Hero
Jama Musse Jama A tribute to a true patriot Abdishakur passed away on May 13, 2012 in a car accident at Tulli village, between Dilla and Borama ...
- Why Hiil Qaran Party Will Not Have a Significant Impact on the Politics of Somalia
- Sunday 20 May: Join in Commemorating late Dr Jowhar
- Qurbomeer State should stop smearing the reputation of Lula A Osman
- May 18: Somaliland Independence Day – Message from Islamabad
- When will Somaliland people know that their choices determine their destiny
- What does the Somaliland flag really represent?
- Somaliland: Istanbul is not the end of the world
- Do Muslims in the West need funeral covers?
- Are the Somali Unionists’ Predictions on Somaliland’s Collapse Crumbling under their Feet?
- Open letter to the People of Qatar & their Government
GEESI LOO HANWEYNAA – A tribute to my hero Dr. Jowhar
Hearing of the death of Dr. Abdishakur Sh. Ali Jowhar struck me as a thunderbolt out of the blue. At no time can one be ...
10 Years after Timor’s Independence, Where Is the Justice?
OPINION | May 16, 2012 John M. Miller The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) congratulated the people of Timor-Leste as they prepared to celebrate the ...
AU troops should exit Somalia and the Military of Somaliland along with Puntland's Army should help the Somali Army in the South to secure the troubled region including the Somali coast. Al Shabbab will have no choice but to join the Somali Army if AU troops leave Somalia. This would be a Somali solution where Somalis solve their own problems…not US drones and foreign troops occupying and killing Somalis for another 20 years with Somaliland still seeking independence. Im not saying forget history and blindly unite…but let's move forward. Somaliland achieved a lot on its own since 1991..but lets not be selfish by thinking about ourselves today…think of how much all Somalis would benefit including the generations to come.
Your suggestion sounds good on paper but is unworkable on the ground. If implemented cracks would soon appear along tribal lines and the situation would deteriorate further not because of Somaliland but because of the plotting and mischief of the usual spoilers.
Tribal elders need to have some sort of dialogue. The tribal system was part of the problem which ruined Somalia ..but it can also be utilized to solve the MAJOR issues of today. If those usual suspects pop up after a tribal agreement…all tribes can agree who the real enemy of Somalis are and eliminate them…but you are right ..its easier said than done.
I agree with jamac , we wont get recognition FULL STOP lets fix the SAD SAD situation for all somalis. IM A SHAMED OF BEING A FREAKIN SOMALI man. shame on us all.
The last time we went out of our way for Somalia it nearly killed us, no thanks!
I am sorry but I am not willing to risk Somaliland soldiers lives for a group of people that have wanted to kill us off and refuse us our rights as human beings.
I am not ashamed to be Somali because Somaliland is showing the world what real Somaliness is! I am a proud Somali from Somaliland!
These idiots (TFG) werent even elected and are currupt as all get out, and you expect us to waltz in there and save the day? Why do you people from Somalia proper always want someone else to do the hard work that is required to build anything worth having. Lazy mofos, thats the mess that got this civil war started! Lazy mofos that were willing to steal, and kill to get what they wanted instead of working hard to do good for the nation as a whole.
Clean your own house, hands you some lysol!
Excuse You? The last time we ventured into something with you lot we almost didnt make it and now you want us to risk our young men to do what? Try and save the TFG? To build a nation for you? give me a break!
I am not ashamed to be Somali because Somalilanders are showing the world that not all Somalis are created equal!
Why is it that you people never want to do the heavy lifting? Fix your own problems stop waiting for the international community, Somaliland, Aliens (lol), and Nabi Isses and the Mahdis second coming to save you!
I am sorry but we stuck out our necks once and nearly got it chopped off, our men and women are staying where they are safe and sound building their own nation.
First of all both my Mother and my Father are from Somaliland, in fact they both live in Hargesia today.
Me and you don't see this world the same Bedria …you see my idea as a simple plan to "save the TFG".. a government, just politics…but you are extremely short sighted and wrong. I see it as a plan to help my brethren who have been suffering for decades. The ones who hate foreign hands in their soil…the ones who oppose conflict and just want to live in peace..(you probably don't even think they exist). It may not be the best idea but at least i have the best intentions for my brothers/sisters in the South unlike you.
The situation in the Southern Somalia is catastrophic and heartbreaking..Famine and a War. When you read stories coming from the south you probably shrug it off as a foreign problem in a foreign land. I haven't turned my back on them and i tell that to all my brothers and sisters who have family suffering in Somalia today ..and Alhamdulillah it puts a smile on their face…but that is the difference between me and Somaliland Ultra-Nationalists like you.
You say " Fix your own problems" (when you know they can't) ..i say: how can i help?
As-Salāmu `Alaykum
The situation is sad, but we didnt cause it and with things the way they are they need to rise up and do something themselves the way we did! Why cant they? Why is it soo hard? Let me tell you something and first stop pretending to be a Somalilander because I promise you there isnt a single Somaliland mother that is willing to send her son or daughter to save the TFG or fight with al shabab all for reer konfureed so please stop bsing!
Why is it soo hard for your people I am not talking about those that are starving because they dont even have a voice, but what is stoping all those reer konfureed overseas and those on the ground that arnt suffering like the very poor? Its all their clan politics, and you know its the truth if they wanted to fix their problem they could have! But they dont want to! that is the fact! and the world sees it! 21 years!
I am an ultra somaliland nationalist because I saw as a young person what siad was doing and what people had to do to get him off our backs, the thing is you guys dont care to work hard and actually build something even if it means your life! Thats why its been 21 years and your still living in thugdom so please dont play like your from Somaliland. Better yet since your willing to get SOmaliland soldiers killed over those that would deny them their rights as a nation, why dont you go to xamar and try to reform the tfg! Get going warya leave this forum to Somalilanders
Wa Asalamu Alaykum
I find it funny how you and others label anyone with a opposing opinion as "reer konfureed". I never said my mother agrees with me nor my father, they are very pro-Somaliland ..but like every human i am entitled to my own opinion. ..and even though i dont agree with yours.. i will respect it.
I'm grateful that I was not raised in your era and the era of my parents because i probably would have agreed with you. Growing up here in North America..if you are Somali and you are Muslim you are my brother/sister none of that tribal nonsense…reer this, reer that never mattered to me. Even though my parents are Reer Woqooyi i never viewed myself as better than any other Somali here. Yes, we have excelled politically, economically and socially more than any other region but that is no reason to look down upon other Somalis and forever refrence them to Said Barre's regime…how could we ever move forward this way?
The fact is Somalia is in a crisis and its getting worse..like every other crisis region in the world the problems will eventually spill over if its not dealt with correctly. Sending Somaliland soliders to help stabilize the area is not only a initiative to help Somalis in the South but it will also promise security for Somaliland.
& Don't get it twisted ..im not anti-Somaliland ..i just think we could do more to help Somalia..and i welcome you to come to the campuses here in the US and Canada and talk to the youth …i suppose it would suprise you to see more sons and daughters of Reer Woqooyi who have evolved past your way of thinking.
*Gives Bedria a standing ovation*
I look down on ones that clearly have power and arnt starving but arnt saving Somalia proper.
But sitting there and proposing that more souls be lost to save a currupt government and fight a suicidal terrorist group for a population that mostly have a political opinion that not only deems our nation nonexistant but constantly bombards our forums with lies and deceit is criminal!
Let me tell you walalo I grew up in the west too, I left Somaliland when I was young but not soo young that I didnt see what was going on around me. So stop trying to act as if this is some sort of old mans vision this IS the NEW YOUNG SOMALILANDER speaking to you, and we as a collective people give you a resounding HELL NO to even proposing that our young men be put in harms way for a people that dont even hold the view that your opinion even matters.
Please name some Universities you liar, I am on the East Coast! Didnt we already help be sending food, what else do you want, how many Somaliland lives are you willing to risk? Its easy for you to talk that way behind a computer, its a totally different set of feelings when your the soldier that has to go fight a war that you dont support and for what more Somaliland haters. Give me break!
If you feel so strongly about it how about you pick up a rifle and head to Xamar and take those so called "supporters" with you, best case scenario they just call you a Qaldan and ask you to leave before shooting!
How am i a liar? Are you really that ignorant to believe all Somalilanders share the same views as yours? You want me to name some Universities where Somaliland youth have evolved from your Ultra Nationalistic views ? Your on the East Coast so why don't you go to UMASS, Toronto U, Ottawa U, U of Minn and talk to the youth there or come to UCLA or UC San Diego…you want names too?
Lol what's so "new" about you?…your just an old head in a young ones body. We can agree to disagree … you made your point …"reer konfureed" are not worthy of your help. I never said i had any "supporters" in this particular idea of sending Somaliland troops… i was just giving my 2 cents…would it work?.. that's up for debate but Somalia's security means Somalilands security and that is a fact. As Somali youth we should always be searching for a better way for our people and there is nothing wrong about debating our ideas… but If you want to get disrespectful and resolve to childish name calling instead of debating this issue there's no need for this convo walal….Peace.
Richard Dowden is quite ievmrssipe in certain extent in understading the trejactories of somali conflict by showing why bottom up nation-building is unavoidable for somalia .There is no doubt that helping to create a functioning state where there is none is difficult, The problem is that outside forces whether in the form of AU, UN or Ethopia do it so poorly in understanding somali way of conflict resolution which is intiated from grassroots by elders, ulemas, busniness groups, women as the Yoruba had a way of conflict magagment process called kirikiri. and the Gikuyu of Kenya process known as itwika, Though i could say once men with guns seize the initiative, it becomes more complex to accommodate the interests of their peculiar hierarchies in addition to those of the broader society and political system, and it becomes more costly for external peacemakers to apply their will as its happening in mogadishu and southern somalia were successive mandates have failed. Somalia having experienced several types of intervention today like a barometer, it has reflected shifting U.S. and international opinion which changed local somali conflict into global war on terror which makes the common somali hard to adapt. its wise that we return the conflict to its orgin and steep out the interventionist agenda
Stop back tracking warya, you said that there are other SOmalilanders that believe that our soldiers should be sent to prop up the TFG! Now, I know how you unionists like to lie about people so please submit in my email the names and contact information for the so called SOmalilanders that are soo willing to sacrifice their fellow country to prop up the TFG and also sumbit your contact info as well. Be informed that lying about peoples opinions will get you sued for Libal. BY the way 98% of the population voted for independence!
Dont be like those people that say someone is going to a meeting when in fact they dont support it. I am in George Washington and I know folks in Catholic, William and Mary, and George Mason as well and none of us support putting our soldiers in harms way.
Somalilands security can best be served by training our soldiers and keeping them in our borders and protecting us, not risking their lives in Somalia.