20100523
AFRICA NEWS

Dozens of armed Al-Shabaab fighters stormed Somaliweyn Radio - an independent broadcasting house - in Mogadishu, capital of Somalia, managers said on Friday. According to the station's website the militants took FM transmitters after the insurgents had seized the area from government forces.



"Al-Shabab fighters came into our premises and took the FM transmitter,” a journalist of the station confirmed to AfricaNews on condition of anonymity. “They gave us no reason for the raid," he added.

"We are asking them to bring back the equipment of the station,” stated Saida Sheikh Ahmed at Somaliweyn office in Brussels.

The main rebel group of Al-shabaab has already banned broadcasting BBC and looted stations in five towns in southern Somalia, including Mogadishu and also ordered local media to end contracts with the VOA.

Mogadishu-based radios stopped airing music in April after Hizb al-Islam militias ordered them to take them off the airwaves because they claim the songs were un-Islamic.

Al-Qaeda inspired Al-shabaab group and Hizbul Islam run most of Mogadishu, where Uganda and Burundi sent 5,000- strong peacekeepers.