Mogadishu: The Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC), with backing from Saudi Arabia, has initiated the Peace Journalists strategic media program in Mogadishu. This initiative is designed to enhance national media capabilities to effectively counteract extremist discourse, hate speech, disinformation campaigns, and terrorist propaganda in the digital realm.

According to Saudi Press Agency, the launch event was graced by the presence of Somalia's Minister of Defence, Ahmed Moallim Fiqi, IMCTC Secretary General Major General Mohammed bin Saeed Al-Moghedi, along with senior Somali government, security, and military officials. During the event, Minister Fiqi emphasized the necessity of building a responsible media discourse to immunize communities against disinformation and extremist propaganda, thereby fostering values of moderation and coexistence. He lauded IMCTC's efforts, spearheaded by Saudi Arabia, in developing national capabilities and training adept media personnel, reinforcing Somalia's commitment to combatting terrorism in all its forms.

Major General Al-Moghedi highlighted that the initiative intends to transform journalists into media professionals with skills in analysis, verification, and counter-messaging. These professionals will be equipped to identify sources of disinformation, expose fake accounts, detect coordinated influence operations, and construct effective counter-narratives.

The program includes a specialized training curriculum targeting 40 participants, comprising journalists, academics, and media specialists. The training focuses on the information disorder framework, digital verification, open-source intelligence, image and video analysis, network analysis, and understanding the psychological and social impacts of extremist discourse, while also fostering the development of counter-narratives and media literacy.