Somali authorities have launched a nationwide TV channel aimed at countering propaganda by the Al-Shabaab terrorist group, Somali Guardian reports.
On November 23, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud attended the opening ceremony of the channel, named Daljir SNTV. "The new channel will broadcast reports on operations against Al-Shabaab fighters, programs aimed at combating the Islamist ideology of this terrorist group," the head of state said.
In the past two weeks, Somali authorities have deactivated more than 500 social media accounts that were spreading Al-Shabaab propaganda. Last October, the Somali government banned local media from reporting on the group's activities.
Al-Shabaab emerged in Somalia in 2004. Since 2008, its fighters have conducted periodic bombings and ambush attacks. By 2010, the group controlled large swathes of territory, but in the summer of 2011 was forced to leave Mogadishu and turn to guerrilla warfare with the government and its allies. In February 2012, one of the leaders of Al-Shabaab announced he had joined the Al-Qaeda (banned in the Russian Federation) terrorist organization. The number of Al-Shabaab fighters is estimated at 10,000.
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Based on materials from TASS