The Islamist group of Hezbul Islam in Somalia on Wednesday ordered the closure of a radio and TV network in the capital of Mogadishu after the movement accused the media house of airing music banned by Islamists, station officials said. Local radio and TV stations in Mogadishu on Tuesday stopped playing music after Islamists who control large swathes of the capital ordered stations not to air all kinds of music, which they consider as un-Islamic. "Fighters from Hezbul Islam came to the station and ordered us to switch off the broadcast. We did and they took the keys to the station building. They accused us of airing music after the ban came into effect but we did not," Abdulaahi Ahmed Nur, the head of Programs for local Global Broadcasting Cooperation ( GBC) radio and TV network, told Xinhua. Nur argued that another radio station, Barkulan, a newly opened UN-funded station based in Nairobi but broadcasts locally on the same frequency used by GBC was the one that aired the alleged music. The two stations, Barkulan and GBC, both use the same frequency of 98 MHz in the already congested Mogadishu airwaves. The frequency was first used by GBC but it briefly went off air for some time, the frequency was taken over by the Nairobi based Barkulan. Barkulan and the state run Mogadishu radio are the two stations that have not headed the Islamist edict to ban music in radio and TV stations based in Mogadishu. The GBC station official said that they were also "wrongly" accused of relaying Barkulan programs on the frequency but the station denied the charges, saying they were suing the UN-funded station for "illegally squatting on the GBC frequency in Mogadishu" in Kenyan courts where the station is based. Islamists pre-conditioned for reopening the station on its moving to a new frequency and GBC officials said that they were consulting with technicians on the practicality of the move. Somalia is seen as one of the most dangerous places for journalists to operate as the war-torn country saw the killing of almost 10 journalists and the wounding of 20 others in 2009.
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