Somaliland Army Men Detained For Listening to Radio Horyaal News
Six Somaliland soldiers stationed in the eastern front had been released from a detention facility located in Oog district of Sool province for listening to a news programme on Radio Horyaal last week, according to senior military officers who spoke to Somaliland.Org over the telephone on condition of anonymity.
The soldiers disobeyed an unlawful order from the Somaliland Military High Command calling for all members of the armed forces, wherever they happen to be in the country, not to listen to Radio Horyaal- an opposition radio broadcasts beamed into Somaliland from Europe.
"The soldiers were arrested after being caught listening to Radio Horyaal news programme. It appears that they have simply ignored the order not to do so," said one of the officers who asked for anonymity.
The Somaliland Military High Command had secretly issued unlawful orders, at least three times in the past, to members of the armed forces warning them against listening to Radio Horyaal. However, in most cases, soldiers based in the remote areas of the country often ignore the order and secretly listen to Horyaal radio station.
"The reason why we prefer Radio Horyaal is simply because it is the only Somaliland radio station that has the broadcast capacity to reach this remote area of the country," said one of the soldiers based in Adhi Addeys barracks who also declined to give his name. "Previously, we used to listen to Galkayo radio and other stations that belong to Puntland".
It is not the first time that the soldiers stationed in the barracks of the eastern front of Somaliland have been arrested for listening to Radio Horyaal. In the past, soldiers were handed down punishments ranging from automatic dismissal from the Army to an indefinite detention.
The Somaliland state-owned Radio does not have broadcast capacity beyond a 5-mile radius from central Hargeisa, the capital city of Somaliland.
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