As Elmi Mohammed Waare ambled through an outdoor market in the central Somali town of Beledweyne in December 2007, two casually-dressed, non-descript members of the \u00a0Al-Shabaab militia group abruptly blocked his path. He had been threatened twice before in anonymous phone calls. The face-to-face confrontation was forthcoming.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey said \u2018you know what you have done. You have insulted us. We are giving you the last warning. You must leave the city in seven days or be killed\u2019,\u201d Waare recalled.<\/p>\n
As a radio journalist in his hometown of Beledweyne, Waare, now 26 years old, reported on the policy initiatives of the former provincial governor at the time that Al-Shabaab was gaining momentum. Now notorious for the brutality afflicted on central and southern Somalis for the past five years, the militant group violently muzzled dissent and objective media coverage as it accumulated power.<\/p>\n
\u201cThree days later I left. I did not tell many people I was leaving because I could be intercepted,\u201d said Waare, from his temporary home in the Eastleigh district of Nairobi, Kenya. \u201cEven when I was leaving, I left the city hiding.\u201d<\/p>\n
Waare\u2019s story epitomises the experiences of dozens of Somali and regional journalists forced into exile by government and militia repression and threats posed by conflict. Kenya is the preferred destination for journalists in East Africa and the Horn of Africa region facing adverse conditions. \u201cCompared to its neighbors, Kenya is relatively welcoming. There are fewer\u00a0security issues here,\u201d said Neela Ghoshal, Human Rights Watch Africa researcher based in Nairobi. \u201cPeople also don\u2019t have a great fear that Kenyan security is in league with security forces from neighbouring countries.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to<\/a> US based Committee to Protect Journalists, Kenya ranks second to the United States among global destinations for exiled journalists,\u00a0harbouring at least 66 members of the media. Those forced to flee are overwhelmingly from neighbouring countries such as Somalia, Ethiopia, Uganda and Rwanda. In those countries, state and militia suppression of independent and objective media is endemic.<\/p>\n \u201cKenya has a robust media. We really have to appreciate the change in media landscape since [current President Mwai] Kibaki came to power,\u201d said CPJ Africa consultant Tom Rhodes, while conceding some press freedom issues remain in the country, mostly relating to media monopoly, political influence and isolated incidents of intimidation and violence against journalists.<\/p>\n Kenya represents a beacon of regional press freedom, and the majority of regional journalists are able to continue to work in the media field without harassment. Independent press, according to Rhodes, is only one of many reasons journalists flock to Kenya. \u201cLike in any country, refugees look for their own kind. This is especially true for Somalis here.\u201d<\/p>\n There is also a strong, if overburdened, United Nations presence in Kenya. They lend critical assistance to refugees throughout the region.<\/p>\n There are many exiled journalists currently residing here, \u00a0and Somali journalists in particular have networks to vent frustration and design a path forward.<\/p>\n But life in Nairobi is by no means glamorous. Waare and other exiled journalists face cultural adversity and minimal employment opportunities. The overwhelming Somali Eastleigh district where Waare resides is plagued by government neglect. Roads are derelict, property is vulnerable to intrusion and subject to skyrocketing inflation. For Waare, however, the most distressing aspect of life here is the time he wastes unemployed and inactive, \u00a0and unable to \u00a0provide for his wife and children back in Somalia.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t paid any bills for my family. I sleep and I wake up. Then I go to mosque and I go home,\u201d said Waare. \u201cI do nothing else. Life now is very difficult. I\u2019m fed up with this situation.\u201d<\/p>\n After spending more than three years in Kenya illegally, Waare currently holds a UNHCR refugee mandate and a Kenyan refugee status certificate. He now shares a miniscule room with two other Somalis in a concrete slab building. His sister provides food and his $35 monthly rent from money her Somali-American husband sends her.<\/p>\n In Somalia, Waare was employed with Voice of America<\/a> and other local media outlets. After arriving in Kenya, he had a brief stint with Frontier FM, a Somali language station that broadcasts in Nairobi and throughout Kenya\u2019s Northeast province. Now, with no means of income, he is constantly plotting his return to Beledweyne.<\/p>\n That prospect is arguably more attainable now than it has been at any point since Waare\u2019s departure. Suffering from a concerted international military and diplomatic offensive, Al-Shabaab is now at its most debilitated state in years. After an initial foray into Somalia in January, Ethiopian troops ousted the militant group from several major urban centers near the border and now occupy Beledweyne<\/a>. Although the Ethiopians have imposed strict curfews and local economies are in shambles, life may be on the path towards peace.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Ethiopian presence there is a good thing. But the menace is still there. They are hiding,\u201d said Waare.<\/p>\n Ethiopia is ostensibly fighting alongside Kenyan and African Union peacekeepers that support Somalia\u2019s Transitional Federal Government (TFG). Tom Rhodes says stronger TFG control in southern and central Somalia may lead to enhanced media freedom.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was zero independent reporting under Al-Shabaab. Potentially there will be more press freedom if the TFG takes greater control,\u201d said Rhodes. \u201cThe TFG on the surface seems more sympathetic to the press. We see signs it is investigating murder cases of journalists that took place last year.\u201d<\/p>\n