A Lot of destruction has taken place since the collapse of the former Somali government in 1991. And that caused the pulling down of the basic public services including the Media. The media sector was earlier controlled by the former government.

After that a few independent newspapers have emerged in order to fill the information gaps of the Somali society. Although their quality was very low, they were the only source of information, and then FM radio stations followed and expanded around the country.

Currently, there is neither high institute for media in Somalia, which can produce effective journalists, nor strong journalists associations. For the sake of the above mentioned circumstances, some Somali Professional journalists and other experts in this field have established SOMEC (Somali Media Center) in May 3rd, 2004 to fill the gap of training, Lobbying & Advocacy for democracy and freedoms.

The Somali Media Center (SOMEC) was first Center for Journalists established in Mogadishu city as an independent, non-profit public interest advocacy and professional development organization serving Somali journalists from all media, including print, radio, television and online. It is the only group of its kind in Somalia.

Somali Media Center (SOMEC) strongly condemns the arrest of three journalists by the transitional Somali government based in Baidoa. We are calling for their urgent release. The journalists were traveling to Baidoa from Burhakaba District, the scene of recent fighting between the government and te Islamic Courts Union, when they were arrested and detained Tuesday, 24th of October 2006.

Free 3 Somali Journalists
1. Muktar Mohammed Atosh of HornAfrik Radio.
2. Mohammed Addawe Adam of Shabelle Radio
3. Fahad Mohammed Abukar of Warsan Radio in Baidoa

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