The head of Somalia’s leading journalism union met with the newly appointed African Union mission chief in Mogadishu this week, raising concerns over the safety of reporters and urging AU forces to strengthen safeguards for press freedom in conflict zones.
The meeting comes at a pivotal moment for Somalia’s media sector, which continues to operate under pressure from both militant groups and government authorities. Journalists face harassment, arbitrary detention, and violence — particularly in regions where Somali National Army (SNA) and AU Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) forces are conducting joint military operations.
Omar Faruk Osman, Secretary-General of the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), emphasized the importance of integrating press protection protocols into ATMIS field operations and called for stronger accountability mechanisms in incidents involving media workers.
The AU’s new mission head — whose appointment follows ATMIS’s gradual drawdown mandate — expressed openness to deepening engagement with civil society groups, including independent media watchdogs.
“We cannot build peace while silencing the press,” Osman stated after the meeting. “Journalists are not combatants — they are chroniclers of conflict and voices for the voiceless. ATMIS must lead by example in respecting and protecting those voices.”
ATMIS leadership reportedly affirmed a commitment to media freedom and noted plans to conduct joint workshops on conflict-sensitive reporting, access to information in military zones, and rights-based security protocols.
The encounter highlights a shift in Somalia’s security discourse — one where civil-military relations increasingly include journalists and civic actors. As ATMIS transitions out and Somali forces take over operational control, the responsibility for safeguarding press freedoms will fall even more heavily on domestic institutions.
For ATMIS, the optics of engaging with a prominent journalist union leader are important: they project a commitment to soft-power diplomacy even as the mission’s military footprint contracts.
For Somalia’s media community, the hope is that such meetings translate into real protections — not just polite statements. With press freedoms already under threat in Mogadishu and beyond, the road from consultation to reform remains steep.
