Mogadishu, 7 August 2007 - A Councilor of the Ethiopian embassy in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, threatened the independent Shabelle Radio based in Mogadishu.

After contacting Shabelle by the phone on Tuesday, Jamaludiin, the Ethiopian councilor in Mogadishu, began lashing out at the media staff, accusing them of exaggerating the events in the capital.

Angrily speaking, "You are always reporting attacks on the Ethiopian troops and their bases. You are saying Ethiopian troops were killed.

Ethiopian troops killed. What are you different from other media outlets in the country," he asked.

He threatened that he would let government officials from the national security agency (NSA) take punitive actions against Shabelle Media Network, an independent media house.

"I have always appealed to men like Mohammed Darwish, (the head of N.S.A.) not to attack you, but from now on it is you and your own," he threatened, blaming the media for covering every occurrence in Somalia to the world.

The threats come as joint house-to-house search operations conducted by

Somali and Ethiopian troops continued in the problematical city for the third consecutive day.

The transitional government indicated Monday that several suspects have been detained in its search operations for weapons and insurgents.

Nonetheless residents in Hama Jajab neighborhood said more than 100 civilians were extracted from their homes.

"They entered every home in this division and they arrested every man around," said one witness who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she was afraid of comeback.

The Western backed government had closed down Shabelle and other free outlets twice in the past. The international community pressed the government to allow Somalia's media houses to exercise their freedom of expression.

Since the ouster of former dictator, Siad Barre, in 1991 Somalia has had

no effective central government.

Source: Sh.M.Network