A/HRC/7/26 Page 9 C. Intentional attacks on personnel involved in humanitarian assistance 22. On 28 June 2007, Mohamed Muse Ali, Somali district programme manager of the NGO International Medical Corps (IMC) was killed by three gunmen in the town of El Berde, 250 kilometres northwest of Mogadishu. On 28 January 2008, three staff members of Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) – Holland in Somalia were killed in a roadside explosion in the town of Kismayo. Victor Okunnu, a Kenyan doctor, Damien Lehalle, a French logistician and their Somali driver, Billan were killed when their car was hit by the blast and Somali journalist, Hassan Kafi Hared, as well as a Somali boy - both who were nearby were also reportedly killed. The independent expert issued a press statement on 29 January condemning the killings of the MSF staff and all attacks on aid workers, journalists and human rights defenders in Somalia. He strongly reiterated that the international aid community must be allowed to carry out their humanitarian and human rights work in safety and without fear of retaliation. He appealed to all authorities and groups concerned to ensure safe and secure conditions for humanitarian and human rights activities and urged the Somali authorities to investigate this case and all cases in order to bring the perpetrators to justice. 23. These killings are only some examples of several direct and intentional threats to humanitarian personnel which took place in the past year. In the period covered by this report, harassment and intentional attacks on international and national personnel involved in humanitarian assistance continued to occur. Such actions threatened assistance to vulnerable persons and groups, especially the more than 1 million internally displaced persons dispersed across Somalia. D. The right to freedom of opinion and expression 24. A pervasive climate of fear and intimidation amongst journalists and media professionals has had a chilling effect on the right to freedom of opinion and expression particularly in Mogadishu, but throughout Somalia as well. Between January 2007 and January 2008, nine media professionals were killed and dozens more threatened into silence for their work, while several fled Mogadishu in fear. 25. Somali journalist Mahad Ahmed Elmi of Capital Voice radio was shot dead near his office on 11 August 2007. Hours later, as he returned from Mr Elmi’s funeral, Ali Sharmarke, founder and co-owner of HornAfrik Media, was killed when his car was reportedly hit by a remotely detonated landmine explosion. In December 2007, a group of 24 journalists from Mogadishu who had sought safe haven in Hargeisa in “Somaliland” were then expelled by authorities a few weeks later. These are only a few examples. 26. In the period covered by the report, there were several other attacks by clan militia as well as Government authorities on the media and threats to freedom of the press, including cases of censorship, banning of journalists, arbitrary detention and torture of media personnel. It was also raised that journalists were at times labelled as terrorists as a means of silencing them and that authorities have repeatedly cracked down on various media for covering the plight of civilians. Such attacks and targeted killings made Somalia the second most dangerous place in the world for journalists (according to Reporters Without Borders International).