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Somali Journalists Strike Over Threats, Request Protection

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AFP)--Somali journalists Tuesday went on strike to protest the recent assassination of a colleague and demanded protection from the international community.

Around 15 Mogadishu-based journalists held a press conference, two days after the director of private radio Shabelle, Mokhtar Mohamed Hirabe, was assassinated in broad daylight in the capital.

"In addition to the direct threats against us, we cannot work impartially at this time and send correct information to society, so we are temporarily suspending our journalism activities," the group said in a statement.

"We know the impact this decision can have on society and the free flow of information but we are obliged to stop working in Mogadishu in order to save our lives," Shabelle editor Abdirahman Yusuf explained.

"We are in danger, so we call on the international community to protect Somali journalists," the statement read.

Hirabe was the third Radio Shabelle journalist to suffer a fatal attack since the start of 2009, the fifth journalist killed this year.

  (END) Dow Jones Newswires
  06-09-090944ET
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