The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the closure of CBA TV, demands its immediate resumption of operations in Somaliland

Somaliland’s government faces a mount of pressure due to the closure of CBA TV, an indepently broadcast based in Hargeisa. CBA Tv was shut down by the ministry of information on 7th September. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the closure of the television in strong terms and demands its immediate resumption of operations in Somaliland.

In a statement, the CPJ said The closure of CBA TV’s operations on dubious and vague legal grounds is the latest act of repression in a fast-closing space for critical journalism in Somaliland. No official response has been released by the government regarding the CPJ’s criticism.

Hussein Jama, the Director General of CBA TV told CPJ that after receiving the minister’s letter on September 7, CBA TV ordered its journalists in Somaliland to cease working, but he said the outlet’s bureaus abroad are still carrying out the station’s service to the public.

According to Hussein, the closure in Somaliland, where CBA TV is headquartered, would significantly affect revenue flow and he was worried about how long the broadcaster could keep paying the salaries of about 48 staff members in the region. Hussein said CBA TV plans to challenge the ban in court. He added that the outlet’s audiences in Somaliland would lack local news coverage due to the operations ban.

CPJ disclosed it sent written queries to information minister Suleyman via WhatsApp and text message on Wednesday, September 14. In a call on Thursday, September 15, the information minister said he was busy and had not had a chance to review queries from CPJ.

The statement added that the minister said he would respond to those queries but had not done so by publication time. The CPJ’a statement also reads, “An email to Somaliland’s ministry of information returned an error message; queries sent via Twitter direct message to the ministry also went unanswered. A phone number of Hassan Aden, Somaliland attorney general, did not go through when CPJ called and queries sent to him via WhatsApp and email went unanswered”.