Mogadishu 22 October 2013 H.E. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, strongly condemns the attempted assassination of Mohamed Mohamud Tima'ade from Universal TV and has ordered security forces to do everything necessary to bring those responsible for the attempted assassination to justice. The President said: "We must bring to justice those responsible for the attempted assassination of Tima’ade. I also appeal to the management and the staff of Universal TV, as well as to all Somali journalists, to keep up their courageous activity to show these thugs and would-be killers that they cannot silence journalists who are doing a magnificent job in Somalia. I pray to Allah that Tima’ade will be able to recover speedily. These cowardly extremists want to show the world that Somalia is not safe and not stable. And they will fail because the cause of freedom on the one hand and journalists reporting freely on the other will prevail.”

The President concluded: "We will not tolerate targeted assassinations of Somali journalists and there must be no impunity and the government will do everything in its power to bring to justice all those involved in the killing of our journalists or any violence committed against them."

-ENDS -