Al-Shabaab captures Mogadishu radio stations
By George Murumba
20th Sept 2010
Al-Shabaab militants
Extremist Somali militants suspected to be from the radical Islamist group Al-Shabaab have seized a number of media houses in the Somali capital Mogadishu.
Reports from Mogadishu indicate that a radio station called Horn Afrik Radio was raided and occupied by Al-Shabaab. The militants then ordered workers to hand over keys to the studios before asking them vacate the station premises all together.
Other reports that are yet to be confirmed say Al-Shabaab also raided and occupied another radio station called Capital Voice. The reason for Al-Shabaab’s raid on the media houses is not clear. One analyst who talked to Uganda Correspondent over the development however thinks the development may “…signal the opening of a new chapter in Al-Shabaab’s propaganda war”.
It is entirely possible, the analyst said, that Al-Shabaab could loot all the radio and other communication equipments from the captured stations and then set up their own pirate radio stations to spew out harmful propaganda. The same stations, he said, could also be used to incite Somali locals to attack or at least withdraw their cooperation from the Ugandan and Burundian AU peacekeeping troops.
It is also probable that the same type of propaganda could also be directed towards the Transitional Federal Government [TFG] that they are resisting. Finally, the analyst said, the stations could be used “…to reign terror in the minds of people living in Somalia so that they shun anything to do with attempts to introduce democracy to Somalia”. END. If is Monday, it’s Uganda Correspondent. Never miss out again!
