Reporters Without Borders condemns the multiple stabbing of Radio Abudwaq director Hassan Bulhan Ali while attending a “reconciliation meeting” between two rival clans on 7 February in Abudwaq, in the central region of Galgadud. The attack, which left him seriously wounded, came just three days after HornAfrik radio director Said Tahlil was murdered in Mogadishu.

“As public figures in an anarchic country, radio station directors are particularly exposed and are too often the targets of the political violence that prevails in Somalia,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We urge the local authorities to do what is necessary to arrest the perpetrator of this murder attempt and bring him to justice.”

Ali was stabbed five times in the chest and stomach while attending the clan reconciliation meeting in the centre of the town of Abudwaq. His assailant, who is well known locally, managed to flee afterwards. According to local journalists, the assailant was upset by Ali’s comments on the air about an attack carried out by one of the clans attending the meeting.

Aged 38, Ali was taken to a hospital in Galkayo, where he is in a serious condition.