Rebalancing police authority and press freedom in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu

Uniformed Somali police commanders sat face-to-face with Somali journalists in Mogadishu in April in a series of unique dialogues that triggered anger, laughter, tears – and finally a rare breakthrough that may have lasting impact on relations between the police responsible for public order and the media asserting press freedom.

The intense series of three two-day dialogues, implemented by the Somali Media Association (SOMA) with IMS support, were structured to engage police leaders responsible for directing operations on the ground in the city, with local journalists, editors and media directors in critical conversation around major friction points with a view to finding solutions.

The workshops were shaped by a year of mounting pressure on Somalia’s media landscape. According to SOMA, there were more than 125 incidents of attacks against journalists and media institutions between April 2025 and April 2026, including arbitrary arrests and detentions. Almost 85 percent of these violations were attributed to police actions, and the highest number of cases occurred in Mogadishu.

There were some tense moments during the sessions, when police and journalists were defensive of their respective positions.

Hamdi Hassan Ahmed, a journalist with Risala Media, stood and recounted her arrest at Abdiaziz Police Station. She described being placed in a small cell with individuals accused of serious crimes, and being pressured to sign a statement admitting to offences she did not commit. She said she was on reporting duty and the police wanted to extract her “confession” as if journalism was a crime.

Across the room from Hamdi sat the commander of the police station, Captain Osman Mohamed Nur. He responded first by defending the actions taken, but as the dialogue deepened, anchored in legal standards and collective reflection, the tone shifted. He acknowledged that it had been wrong and offered an apology directly to Hamdi, which she accepted.

This exchange lasted only minutes, but it altered the atmosphere in the room. It was not merely an apology, rather a rare public recognition of institutional mistakes made by the Somali police.

In the same spirit, Captain Jamilo Abdinur Mohamed apologised to all the media in the room on behalf of all of her colleagues in the police force for the mistreatment, emphasising the importance of adhering to legal procedures and respecting journalists’ rights.

A total of 105 participants took part in the dialogues, including district police station commanders, police investigators, media house managers, journalists and civil society representatives. As word spread among the police about the empowering discussions going on, more officers asked to join. Six extra places were given to officers from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which was not part of the original plan.

As the sessions progressed, commanders who had viewed journalists as operational risks began to reconsider their approach. Investigators revisited established practices. Journalists, in turn, reflected on the pressures and responsibilities inherent in reporting in a fragile and high-risk environment.

Reporter Iqra Abdullahi Abdirahman, a woman journalist who was arrested during a public protest in March, delivered an apology to Major Ahmed Yalahow for posting inaccurate claims about his behaviour on her social media pages. The major was praised for not having lashed out against the media publishing the false claims against him, but by choosing to act with restraint to clear his name. Iqra and the major met and spoke together separately to reconcile.

By the final day, the language in the room had changed from guarded formality to open, animated exchanges. Jokes were shared and police officers and journalists, who had mostly viewed each other with mutual suspicion, took selfies together.

Responding to a complaint that journalists when arrested had their equipment confiscated and content deleted, the Commander of the Banadir Regional Police, Colonel Mahdi Omar Mumin, stated that they all needed to work through cooperation rather than confrontation.

“We will help you to work in a safe environment,” the commander told the journalists. “And we want you to help us serve the public with mutual respect.”

The Deputy Police Commissioner, Brigadier General Osman Abdullahi Kanif, instructed police officers to apply what they had learned in practice, while journalists were encouraged to uphold their professional responsibilities with equal rigour.

He added that the real test would not be in conference rooms but in crowded city streets, at tense checkpoints and in the immediate aftermath of crises. There were some immediate practical outcomes from the dialogues, such as setting up WhatsApp groups between the police coordination office and media managers. Police and media also agreed to engage further in smaller group meetings to be organised by SOMA to develop a protocol formalising police-media relations and structuring the positive commitments from the dialogues into operational action.