YouSaid · the spoken record

Abdinur

lines on the record: 7
first: 2013-07-17
most recent: 2013-07-17
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“All of my colleagues who have been killed had one thing in common: they were committed to telling the story of their country to the rest of the world. Sitting here today, I want to say that we will not fail that dream. We will never be discouraged. We will stay the course and continue telling the world about the crises in our country, to help save lives, and to develop peace. But even sitting here, so far away from my home on the other side of the world, in such a very different situation as compared to life in Mogadishu, is not without risk. In showing my face to the Council and the world, I increase the threat of becoming a target when I go back home. But I am a journalist. They may call me a dead man walking, but I report the news.”
2013-07-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7003 (2013) · source
“Immediate steps can be taken towards ensuring effective and impartial investigations into the murders of journalists, and the prosecution of those responsible. We need support and training. We are citizens who want to report the truth. I am just one man - a reporter - but the voices of the people I speak to and the stories I write go out on my news wire to be read all around the world. Many colleagues have had to leave Somalia, fleeing the country for safer lands. I remember my friend and colleague Mohamed Ibrahim Rageh. He fled the country in 2008 and sought asylum in Uganda, fearing for his life. But he was a brave man, and he changed his mind and came back home. He once told to me, "Perhaps I want to die telling the news." Unfortunately, earlier this year, they shot him dead while playing with his daughter in front of his house.”
2013-07-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7003 (2013) · source
“We talk to all sides in the conflict, providing the platform for the debate and political discourse that will shape the future. When a journalist is killed, the news dies too. A whole society can be forgotten simply because there is no one left to tell its stories. The concern here is, how long can the bravery of Somali journalists and their determination continue? We are few remaining. What participants discuss here today will help save lives. Action can be taken. Rebuilding the justice system is a long-term challenge for Somalia, but the international community can still help. In Somalia there is no effective justice system to protect journalists. There are concerns about possible restrictions in a draft media law.”
2013-07-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7003 (2013) · source
“Instead, I wait for the day when justice will be served and the guilty punished for shooting the messenger. Sometimes, the authorities do make a few arrests. However, rarely do they result in conviction and punishment. The perpetrators of these grim crimes remain free to kill again with impunity. In such a terrible situation, it is fair to ask: "Why become ajournalist?" Indeed, why do we risk our lives to bring news to the world? There is no doubt that without a free press there can be no freedom for a country. I tell the Council that we have a higher objective for good and that by doing our jobs we feel that we are saving lives. We need the media for our troubled country to grow and to help inform, provide laughter with entertainment, provide education with information, and play our role in building peace.”
2013-07-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7003 (2013) · source
“How safe is it to speak when a security official can throw ajournalist into prison simply because he is not pleased with a story? How safe is it to speak when a young boy armed with a pistol can walk along your path and shoot you? There is no ordinary route to work, you must change where you walk each day. You wait for your turn to come, because the gunmen are out there waiting for you. My fellow journalists who have been killed all knew the risks. They have paid the price because they wanted to tell the story. They have paid the price for telling the truth. When I pick up my cell phone I feel sad, because their contacts are saved there, as though I could still dial their number and speak to them. I do not delete their names just because their lives have been ended by the killers.”
2013-07-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7003 (2013) · source
“I am here today simply because I am lucky and because the gunmen that have killed so many of colleagues - my friends - have not yet found me. As ajournalist, it is just a waiting game. It is not a question of if, but of when. You report the news, but in Somalia, all too often, it is the reporters themselves who become the story. If we come back home alive, we cherish that extra day with our wives and children, and hope that luck remains for the next day too. Somalia's civil war began more than two decades ago. Since then, nearly 60 journalists have been killed covering one of the world's worst and longest-running humanitarian crises. Last year, 18 were killed. So far this year, four have died. Journalists face threats from all sides: there is no single enemy.”
2013-07-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7003 (2013) · source
“Mr. Abdinur: My name is Mustafa Haji Abdinur. For the past seven years, I have been a reporter for AFP in Somalia. Like so many others in my profession, on the dusty streets of Mogadishu they call me a dead man walking. Day after day, I tell stories to the world of the people of Somalia, the troubles they face and their hopes for the future. But today I sit here having carried with me the stories of my comrades and colleagues, my fellow journalists who paid the ultimate price for reporting from those same streets. I speak from experience as ajournalist in Somalia, but I also want to speak for all the journalists in Syria, Brazil, Egypt, Pakistan and many other countries, great and small, who have been killed, are missing or have been harrassed over the years. My story is not unique.”
2013-07-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7003 (2013) · source