By
Tom Rhodes
Residents sit under Somaliland's
Independence memorial in Hargeisa. Journalists there say conditions are
improving, but they remain wary. (Reuters/Feisal Omar)
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Conditions
for the press in the semi-autonomous republic of Somaliland may, on
the surface, appear to be improving. But without a functioning media law to
lend protection, and pending legislative elections, journalists remain wary of
state harassment.
Authorities
have, for instance, decreased the rate and duration of arbitrary detentions of
journalists, Mohamoud Abdi Jama, chairman of the Somaliland Journalists
Association (SOLJA), told me during a U.N.-led trip in March to meet
officials, journalists, and civil society actors in the capital, Hargeisa.