On Tuesday, August 24th, members of al-Shabab, an Islamic military group formerly associated with the Islamic Court Union (ICU) and categorised as a terrorist group by The Australian government attacked a hotel in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu. Reports vary as to how many people were killed in the attacks. Al Jazeera reported on Tuesday that at least 35 and up to 38 people including eight members of parliament had been killed. The Guardian had the figure at 32 including six members of parliament and The Independent placed the figure slightly higher at 33.
The attack came a day after a spokesman for al-Shabab declared a ‘massive, final’ war against ‘invaders’, an apparent reference to the 6000 strong African Union presence in the country.
Since the attack on Tuesday fighting has continued in and around Mogadishu according to Al Jazeera who are claiming on their website that the death toll has risen to over 60 people since Tuesday.
So, who cares?
Well, not the Australian media apparently. Since Tuesday The Australian has ran zero stories in its print edition on the attacks. On Wednesday they posted an Associated Press piece on their website and unfortunately that means they lead the charge in terms of coverage as neither the SMH, The Telegraph nor The Age have printed or posted anything on the attacks. It’s a telling judgement of the fickle nature of the news cycle. Somalia is, let’s face it, old news.
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