MOGADISHU/BAIDOA, Somalia 10 September 2026 – A Baidoa journalist has disappeared into custody after reporting and posting about the conflict gripping Southwest State, prompting the Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) to demand his immediate and unconditional release. SJS said local journalist Abdirahman Mohamed Abdi has been held since 6 September 2026 at an undisclosed location in Baidoa in connection with his journalism work, and urged security services and police in the city to stop intimidating and harassing reporters over independent coverage.
Abdirahman Mohamed Abdi, widely known as Jakataa, was arrested on 6 September by security services in Baidoa, colleagues told SJS, speaking anonymously because of concerns for their safety. Since then, they said, his location has not been made public. SJS said Baidoa police did not respond when asked for clarification.
Colleagues of Abdirahman told SJS they believe his detention followed a Facebook post he published on 5 September, in which he wrote: “Can you name the only Digil/Mirifle clan whose members are being attacked by an aircraft, and the only clan whose members are being protected by an aircraft?”
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After that post, Abdirahman shared another post by a Facebook user who appeared to support the authorities and described him as “a journalist who sympathizes with the Khawarij,” a label commonly used for Al-Shabaab militants. Abdirahman replied: “You’ve made the label of ‘Khawarij’ so cheap that anyone can be branded with it. Therefore, act better than this.”
Local media outlets and opposition politicians have repeatedly reported drone strikes around Baidoa, saying they believe Turkish and Somali forces are carrying them out. Those strikes have reportedly hit villages largely populated by members of Abdiaziz Laftagareen’s Harin clan.
In a separate incident, an airstrike reportedly carried out by Turkey struck Doolow town in Jubaland’s Gedo region on 3 September, reportedly wounding at least four people.
Abdirahman Mohamed Abdi’s latest arrest is the second time Baidoa authorities have detained him. On 26 May 2026, Southwest State police in Baidoa arrested him one day after he interviewed women khat sellers who said they had suffered an armed robbery allegedly committed by Somali federal government forces deployed in the city, as SJS documented at the time. He was freed two days later.
Another Baidoa journalist, Mohamud Ali Abdullahi, known as Baxar, who works with Codka Baay iyo Bakool media, was arrested on 8 September while returning home. Mohamud Baxar told SJS that armed officers from the Southwest State intelligence service, locally known as NISA Southwest, stopped him on the road while travelling in a Toyota pickup vehicle and ordered him inside. He said they removed his shirt, blindfolded him and drove him to Baidoa Police Station, where he remained until Wednesday, when he was released after questioning.
According to Mohamud Baxar, the officers also compelled him to unlock his mobile phone and open his Facebook account. They examined posts he had published on 22 May about increasing armed robberies in Baidoa, including reports of mobile-phone robberies allegedly carried out by armed men in military uniforms.
He said the officers further questioned him about a 3 September post concerning fighting in Baidoa. During the interrogation, Mohamud Baxar said, the officers objected to his reporting that “forces aligned with Laftagareen had attacked Baidoa,” instead of stating that Al-Shabaab had attacked the city.
The pressure on reporters comes amid a deepening power struggle in Southwest State. In June 2026, Somalia’s federal government installed former parliamentary speaker Adan Mohamed Nur Madobe as the new regional leader after an election process widely criticised for lacking transparency. That vote followed a late-March armed operation by the federal government and allied militias, with Turkish support, aimed at removing Abdiaziz Laftagareen as regional leader. Since then, Baidoa has been caught in armed confrontation between the two camps.
Journalists recently told SJS that local authorities have repeatedly pushed them to describe forces aligned with Laftagareen as “Al-Shabaab” in their reporting. Some local journalists have yielded to that pressure, while others have resisted it.
On Monday, Bashir Mohamed Abdullahi died after being shot during clashes in Baidoa last week, underscoring the severe dangers confronting journalists working in the city.
SJS said it is alarmed by the intensifying pressure on journalists in Baidoa and by what it described as the apparent use of detention, intimidation and threats to shape independent reporting. Reporters, the group said, must be able to cover political and security developments without being compelled to adopt the narrative of any side in the conflict.
“We call on the Southwest State authorities to immediately disclose Abdirahman Mohamed Abdi’s whereabouts, release him unconditionally, and ensure that journalists are not detained, threatened or otherwise harassed for carrying out their professional duties,” said SJS Secretary General, Abdalle Mumin.
“We remind the competing sides of the conflict in Southwest State that the safety of journalists is essential to the public’s right to access information and future accountability. Therefore we call on all sides to protect journalists, stop the pressure on independent reporting and create an environment where media workers can operate without fear,” Mr. Mumin added.
