We deeply regret and condemn the senseless murder of Ali Iman Sharmarke, a longtime friend of the Voice of America, and a courageous journalist committed to establishing a free press in his native Somalia.
On Saturday, August 11, 2007, Mr. Sharmarke, co-owner and founder of HornAfrik Media Company, and Mahad Ahmed Elmi, director of HornAfriks Capitol Voice FM station, were murdered in two separate incidents in yet another example of attempts to silence the independent media in Somalia. Their deaths bring to a total of six the number of media workers murdered in the country this year.
Mr. Sharmarke was educated in the United States and Canada and held dual Somali-Canadian citizenship. He sacrificed a comfortable life in Canada to return to his homeland in 1999, where he established the countrys first independent radio station, HornAfrik, in Mogadishu. The stations broadcasts often focused on the plight of civilians caught in the conflict between Somali government forces and Islamist insurgents.
HornAfrik has been a VOA affiliate for several years, broadcasting both English to Africa and, more recently, Somali-language programs.
The loss is profound, not just for his countrymen and family, but for the international community. He understood the risk to his life and faced great personal hardship in the name of contributing to the greater good of society through peaceful means. Sharmarke was a courageous and uncompromising force for good in the world.
The Broadcasting Board of Governors and the Voice of America appeal to the government of Somalia to bring the perpetrators of these heinous crimes to justice and to take substantive measures to protect its journalists and support free media.