A two-day training workshop for Somali journalists on election reporting ended today and participants said they felt better prepared to cover the country’s upcoming electoral process.

The workshop, organized by the United Nations Assistance Mission to Somalia (UNSOM), addressed a variety of topics ranging from the rules governing coverage of the 2016 electoral process to press freedom issues and the role of the United Nations in the process.

Participants of the workshop held in Baidoa described it as timely and thanked UNSOM for its role in the professional development of journalists.

“We have learnt a lot during the training. We were taught how to report in an unbiased, accurate and professional fashion on news about the electoral process, the importance of empowering women and the 30 per cent quota reserved for women in parliament, among other topics,” SWS radio journalist Shukri Ismail Ahmed said.

Warsan Radio journalist Adan Hassan Osman (Geesey)  said, “We were told about challenges journalists might face and how to overcome those during the 2016 electoral process and also how to report effectively.”

Interim South West Administration Minister of Information, Hassan Abdi Mohamed, congratulated UNSOM for organizing the training.

"The most important thing the journalists were taught during the two-day training was to be impartial, truthful and accurate in their reporting,” Minister Hassan said.

The Minister urged the journalists to maintain fairness and avoid pejorative references to a candidate’s clan, religion or gender while covering the electoral process, saying such acts could incite residents to violence.

UNSOM is providing a series of training workshops to journalists across the country on the country’s electoral process. Subsequent trainings will be held in Belet Weyne, Kismaayo, Adado and Garoowe.

The Mission is also supporting the Federal Indirect Electoral Implementation Team and the State Indirect Electoral Implementation Teams.