Latest Somali Tabloid: a wake up call to TFG and Ethiopia

The latest tabloid news about our generals in Somalia literally slapping the respectable Somalia president Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed on his face is a wake up call to both the Ethiopian and Somali governments about the media propaganda war in Somalia . Many people have long said that the media war is the top weapon used by the radical islamist insurgency. The insurgency will therefore step up its violence and propaganda whenever ordered by the Eritrean regime that is losing around 150 soldiers deserting Asmara weekly.  Sadly, the Ethiopian and Somali governments have ignored the warning signs and tried to give freedom of media for supporters of the jihadist savages killing innocent people in Somalia .

What will Somalia gain from giving such media space to ICU supporters? A pat on the back from CPJ or other “human rights” groups? The Somalia government should only care about our Somali cousins and bringing a central government for the first time in 17 years, not about pleasing white folks claiming to stand for human rights. The government can give political and other space to the opposition once it gains a grip on the security situation on the ground. Democracy is fundamental and vital to all people. It is something that starts from within and be practiced in a nation that is in relative stability. Certainly not something to be imported. You can not have elections or practice other democratic exercise when Mogadishu officials are the daily targets of assassination and bombings. The Ethiopian government should wake up about the problem of the media war.

I remember one Somali "comedian" talking about the tabloid Shabelle news media in Mogadishu . He said this media interviews and plays around with the ICU bombers right before they target a convoy with a remote controlled bomb. When the convoy arrives to the scene, Shaballe media journalists take cover for safety. After the attack and killings, it reports about the raid with its own pro-ICU twist as usual. And the cycle continues as the public is always consuming the pro-ICU media propaganda and lies. This is the reality in Mogadishu . It is both a military and psychological warfare. In fact, it is not just media war by Somali pro-ICU media sources. The war is waged by the ICU supporters outside the country, like Eritrea and Iran . Iran was one of the countries where assistance to ICU came from, according to the 2006 United Nations report. As expected, the Iran state funded www.PRESSTV.com  media has been the top foreign media mimicking the propaganda of pro-ICU media outlets in Somalia .

At the beginning in early 2007, the pro-ICU media false reports about the TFG being traitors, about Ethiopians rapping Somali women everywhere and other sick lies stirred the public and became a cause to support the ICU in Mogadishu. Then later, false news and exaggerations of chaos reported by pro-ICU media outlets helped to paint the false image that ICU was easily winning and defamation stories about the TFG officials helped to discredit the TFG. Now we are in another level of the propaganda and psychological war which the Ethiopian government doesn’t seem to know that it even exists.

Why is the TFG giving so much space for its enemies to gain an upper hand of reaching and brainwashing the Somali public? Let alone the TFG, even the American government didn’t care about democratic values when it invaded Iraq after destroying the Sadam Hussein state media and the media of its sympathizers. America did this because it needed to create space to a new central government. Not only outside in wars, but also inside the so-called most democratic country of America , the US government used undemocratic ways to restore stability domestically. Throughout history, the American government temporarily suppressed and checked on the media of radical and violent domestic dissidents (like the black separatists and pro-East domestic politicians) during American domestic problems with armed African-American movements and foreign battles with the communists. So why are the TFG and Ethiopia giving support to the media sources that functioned as ICU’s right wing? To please the “human right” watchdogs financed by the same American government that never followed its own democratic values during times of wars? The TFG should not try to do what even the American government never did. The priority of the TFG should be to have as much control of Mogadishu as possible, including the media because it needs to pacify the city and establish authority. The TFG should remember that it is not up against a peaceful opposition party.

The Ethiopian government needs to acknowledge and reassess its strategies. From radios to newspapers, it is giving space to tabloid media that is virtually running the propaganda war of the ICU. The ICU has a few legitimate opposition individuals who should be included in the Somalia government. But the TFG can give this kind of full space for some opposition persons inside ICU and pro-ICU media outlets, AFTER IT STABILIZES MOGADISHU, Not before! If the ICU was waging a peaceful struggle, then it is vital to give all the media and other space to the opposition voices in Somalia . But the reality on the ground is, the ICU and its sympathizers are not exercising a peaceful opposition movement at this time. As the result, they need to be treated that way by the TFG and our government. If not, the situation in Mogadishu will worsen.

 Ironically, even our UEDF and other peaceful opposition groups in Addis Ababa are not getting abundant access to mass media the way the armed opposition groups in Mogadishu are getting. This is shameful.

Gemeda Humnasa 02/23/08