Why we attended the media day Conference organized by Somalia’s presidency.

We had received an invitation from Villa Somalia for a meeting between the management of various media houses and Outgoing President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo.

The meeting which was attended by leaders and media executives was to discuss the challenges and grievances facing the media in the execution of their role as fourth estate with view of addressing the same.
The purpose of the meeting was also to mark the international day on media independence and press freedom marking the International Day which was celebrated on 3rd May-2021.

We used the opportunity and the audience of the president to bring the conference to the attention of the raid at the Mustaqbal Media Center KM4 in Mogadishu by some Somali Police Force. Apparently, the raid occurred a day before the media independence day.

We have informed President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo and the media leaders present at the occasion that the unexplained raid was not addressed and that no solution or follow up is yet to be tabled.

The raid by the police on the Independent media headquarters which lasted for hours had the police torturing the staff at the centre , issuing threats and confiscated equipment which disrupted our working as well as the fact that the said equipments are yet to be returned save for a MacBook Pro computer which was returned by the Benadir regional police commander.

Media leaders took turns collectively informing the president of the problem and its magnitude as well as its consequences for media freedom.

They urged the president to commit to finding a solution to the crisis in Mustaqbal Media and also asked the President to address the issue as soon as possible, calling the incident a disgrace.

Speaking for more than an hour, President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo said he was requesting an investigation into the incident and promised he would address it as soon as possible.

We would like to thank all the media leaders who attended the meeting for their unwavering support for Mustaqbal Media, the staff and for standing for media freedom.