Hargeysa, Somaliland, July 19, 2008 (SL Times) – The Union of Somaliland Journalists reiterates its condemnation of Somaliland president Dahir Riyale's new policy of barring correspondents for independent newspapers from attending the press conferences that he holds at his office from time to time.

Although Mr. Riyale has been practicing this exclusion as his method for dealing with the print media since 2007, however it was never acknowledged by the presidency as a policy except last.

For on July, 2008, newspaper correspondents were informed by Saeed Adani, Mr. Riyale's spokesman, that they have been banned not only from attending a press conference which was scheduled to be held by the president sometime later in the day in the aftermath of violent riotings that took place in the Somaliland capital Hargeysa a day earlier, but also all future press briefings at the presidency as well.

In a press release issued on July 8, 2008, the Union of Somaliland Journalists had denounced this exclusion policy as a dangerous development which is bound to have serious negative implications for this country's democratization process as well as the ability of Somaliland citizens to exercise their right to know by having access to pluralistic and independent information.

Calling for dialogue instead of confrontation in order to resolve this problem, the USJ appealed to president Riyale to reconsider his decision in the interest of the consolidation and development of Somaliland 's young democracy.

Unfortunately the presidency's response to this call has so far been negative.

“We regret that the president's office has not yet shown any interest in our proposal for dialogue and appeal that the policy of banning newspaper correspondents from participation in the presidency's press briefings be reconsidered,” Chairman of the USJ Abdillahi Mohamed Dahir said in a new statement on this issue.

“While it is not a secret that the Riyale administration is experiencing a public relations problem essentially due to its over-all poor performance, we do not believe that the best way to remedy this situation is for the president to pick up fights with the country's most powerful media – the independent newspapers. Rather than blaming the print media for his woes, Mr. Riyale needs at least to adopt an effective information communication strategy which he lacks at the present,” Mr. Dahir concluded.

The USJ once again urges Somaliland leader Dahir Riyale to lift the restrictions that he has imposed on the accessibility of newspaper correspondents to the information generated by the office of the president.

The USJ reiterates its previous call for dialogue between the presidency and leaders of the journalist community as the only way forward for addressing this issue.

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