Mogadishu — The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) was today admitted as a member of the International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX), a global network of free-expression organisations, by it General Meeting in Montevideo, Uruguay.

NUSOJ, with other nine free-expression organisations, was voted into the network by the IFEX membership after the union's Secretary General Omar Faruk Osman presented NUSOJ's application at the Meeting.

"As NUSOJ, we are greatly pleased to be affiliated with the IFEX", said Omar Faruk Osman. "NUSOJ plays a key role not only in Somalia but also throughout the Eastern African region. Our IFEX membership confirms the important work that we are doing, and will strengthen our solidarity efforts with like-minded free-expression organisations around the world".

With the new members, IFEX now links 82 free-expression organisations around the world that use the network to share information, initiate joint actions and build campaigns to defend and promote the right to freedom of expression. More than 120 free-expression advocates from around the world gathered this week in Montevideo, Uruguay, at the IFEX General Meeting.

At the conference, hosted by World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) and the Institute of Press and Society (Instituto Prensa y Sociedad, IPYS), participants examined the most pressing threats to free expression: impunity, media concentration, criminal press laws and Internet censorship.

Campaigning sessions were also devoted to advocating for free expression across Africa, human rights around the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the international mission to Nepal.

Also at the conference, participants got practical, technical advice from experts during a one-day forum on information and communication technology. The experts divulged a slew of tips, including how to get around Internet censors, how to create and maintain a secure email address, ways to spread campaign news using easy movie-making software, and how to save money on telephone bills by setting up voice communications over the Internet.

The six-day conference, hosted with support from local groups Comunica and the Uruguayan Journalists Association (APU), concludes tomorrow, 12 October 2007.