By Yassin Juma
MOGADISHU
Somali journalists have found themselves in a fix, with the government banning the use of the name "Al-Shabaab" to refer to the militant group, while the militants are threatening anyone who refers to them using a term coined by the government.
"We are caught between a rock and a hard place. That is the situation Somali journalists find themselves in," Hussein Mohamed, a Somali freelance journalist based in Mogadishu, told The Anadolu Agency.
Somali Intelligence Chief Abdirahman Mohamud last week ordered journalists to use the acronym "UGUS" – which stands for "the group that subjects the Somali people to humiliation" – when referring to Al-Shabaab.
But in a subsequent statement, the Al-Qaeda-linked group dismissed the new acronym as an "insult," threatening to "respond appropriately" to anyone who used it.
Al-Shabaab, which means "the youth" in Arabic, assumed this name after the defeat of the Islamic Courts Union in 2007.
"Being a journalist in Somalia is dangerous enough," said Mohamed. "And the government has made it more dangerous by forcing us to use the word UGUS."
"After Al-Shabaab's warning, I chose to avoid covering any story on the group," Mohamed told AA.
"I take their threats seriously, because I have seen journalists killed in this country," he said.
Somalia was ranked the third most dangerous country for journalists in 2014.
Since last May, four journalists have been killed in the restive Horn of Africa nation.
Last week, a radio producer and his wife were shot dead by unknown gunmen in Baidoa in central Somalia.
Intimidated
Media organizations intend to petition the government to have the order reversed.
"The media should work under no intimidation or interference at all," Ismail Omar, chairman of the Mogadishu Independent Newspaper Association, told AA.
"It is ironic that these orders were issued on World Press Freedom Day," he fumed.
The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) has called on both the government and Al-Shabaab to halt the intimidation of journalists.
"Journalism must thrive in Somalia," NUSOJ said in a statement.
"The days in which journalists are harassed, intimidated, brutalized, jailed or even killed outright should belong to the past," it added.
A source at the Interior Ministry said ministry officials would advise the government to revise the order.
"It's a dangerous order that puts journalists at risk," the official, who sought anonymity because of his rank, told AA.
"It's a dangerous order, especially now that the terrorists have issued a warning," added the official.
Al-Shabaab, which is waging a years-long insurgency against the Somali government, had for years controlled much of central and southern Somalia.
Recently, however, the group has lost ground to the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) working in coordination with Somali army troops.
Nevertheless, the group has continued to carry out regular attacks on government officials and security personnel.
