Melissa Arseniuk, CanWest News Service
Sunday, August 12, 2007
The 50-year-old co-founder of the HornAfrik media organization died when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb just hours after one of his most popular reporters was gunned down in the street outside one of the company's radio stations. Mahad Ahmed Elmi, 30, had been shot four times in the head.
Sharmarke came to Canada in the mid-'90s but retuned to Somalia in 1999 with two other Somali-born, Ottawa-based business partners and a desire to make a difference. The men opened the nation's first independent radio station in the troubled capital. The venture proved controversial and has been shut down for short periods by various ruling parties, including the current government.
HornAfrik's offices have also been showered with bullets, including a particularly extensive assault in April that prompted Sharmarke to file a formal complaint with the government. Because of the constant threat of violence, armed guards patrol the station at all hours and accompany reporters on assignments.
Despite the efforts of various parties to silence the organization, HornAfrik has experienced great success and had opened a second radio station and a television channel, as well.
"The perpetrators want to silence our voices in order to commit their crimes," Sharmarke said as he arrived at Elmi's funeral, adding that violence against journalists is part of an ongoing campaign. "It demonstrates the conditions that Somali reporters are working under."
His slaying comes just five years after the station was applauded for "uphold(ing) freedom of the press under challenging conditions" by the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression.
Ahmed Hashi, Somalia's former ambassador to East Germany and the UN who knew Sharmarke for almost two decades, called his friend's death a terrible loss.
"It is very sad that a person trying to help the people was assassinated by the same people he is trying to help," he said from his Ottawa home.
"Having left a comfortable life in Canada in Ottawa, he opted to put his life on the line to promote peace and human rights for the Somali people."
He commended both men's efforts, saying: "They died in service of the Somali people and the promotion of peace and harmony."
The National Union of Somali Journalists said six local journalists have been killed in the country in 2007. "This wave of killing and injuring media people is an intentionally organized mission to silence journalistic voices in Somalia," the organization said.
Somali media organizations called Sharmarke's death an assassination, part of a deliberate campaign against the media.
Reporters Without Borders called on the government to urgently protect journalists. "Somalia is already this year the most deadly country in Africa for the media," it said in a statement.
Sharmarke's wife, Lul Sharmarke, and two children were in Kenya and could not be reached for comment.
The day before Sharmarke and Elmi were killed, Radio Mogadishu journalist Abdihakin Omar Jimale was also attacked, suffering a non-fatal gunshot to the shoulder.
Both of Sharmarke's partners, Mohamed Elmi (who is not related to the slain radio host) and Ahmed Abdisalam Adan, were in Canada when he was killed.
They had been living in Ottawa until just a month ago, when they made the hard decision to move the family to Kenya in order to be closer to each other.
Mohamed Elmi spoke briefly yesterday with Sharmarke's widow over the phone. "She could hardly speak," he said. "They were really terrified."
He does not believe the family is in danger in Kenya.
"That's not the safest place as well, but the place that is more dangerous now is Somalia," he said.
Elmi was devastated upon leaning of his friend's death. "(It is) also a blow to the media outlets in all of Somalia, freedom of speech, freedom of press, good governance," he said. "It is very very hard."
He said all media outlets in Mogadishu voluntarily shut down yesterday to protest the violent killings.
The last time he saw his good friend was about three months ago, during one of Sharmarke's trips back to Ottawa to see his family.
Elmi said Mr. Sharmarke was well aware of the danger in Somalia - his driver was shot dead in the street several years ago - but he remained dedicated to the cause.
"He was really concerned about the safety, he knew that it was dangerous," Elmi said,"(But) he had a lot of ideas (and) he wanted them to be implemented. ... That's how he was."
Following Sharmarke's death, HornAfrik is without leadership - but the organization's co-founders are determined to continue the broadcasts.
"We have no choice but to keep going and go ahead with what we're doing," Elmi said. "We believe it is an essential service to Somalia and for that country, we will keep going. No matter how dangerous it is, we will keep doing what we are doing."
Source: Ottawa Citizen, with files from Reuters and Emily Rauhala, Aug 12, 2007