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Goobjoog journalists back from epic journey from Yemen – Pictures

Storyline:National News

Two Goobjoog News journalists have arrived back in Mogadishu to a rapturous welcome from staff and other media solidarity groups after a two months voyage in the Arabian Peninsula covering the refugee crisis in Yemen.

Mohamed Salad and Aweys Haji Noor had embarked on the crucial assignment to cover the perilous journey by thousands of Somali returnees from Yemen on evacuation ship chartered by businessman Abdi Ali Farah.

Dozens of Goobjoog staff with the management were at the airport hours before their Adado bound plane touched down, but due to restrictions at the Aden Ade airport, journalists and well wishers had to camp outside and only managed to welcome the outside the vicinity of the airport.

Farhiya Abdalla, one of the lead anchors at the station expressed her happiness to welcome back her colleagues, “They mean to us a lot, they did a great job for sacrificing their time and risked their life in the interest of the people,” she said.

Goobjoog was the only media house in Somalia to send reporters to Yemen to cover the plight of Somali refugees there who were caught up in the devastating conflict and airstrikes pitying pro-government Saudi led forces and rebel Houthi groups.

From despair to hope, the two have sent back heartbreaking stories, including the story of pregnant women who had to deliver aboard the ship crossing the Red Sea from Yemen to Bosaso, Somalia. The ship did six trips forth and back.

The station has also spearheaded and inspired efforts to evacuate more than a quarter million Somali refugees in Yemen when the war broke out, even when the government starred helplessly for a way out to evacuate its citizens. Through the refugee repartriation campaign, Gargar and Gurmad Goobjoog was able to mobilise financial resources, a campaign which pulled in the business community in the country.

There will be events to honor the two courageous journalists including a soccer match in which players would be wearing a kit with the two names printed on each separately.

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