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Many Somalis were in ecstasy when VOA launched its Somali programmes and for good reason. Deeply alienated and unhappy about the demise of the once highly admired and adored BBC Somali Service and the progressive way it was turned into a clan corner shop serving Yusuf Garaad’s egregious personal and clan agendas, listeners looked to the advent of the Somali programmes of VOA as an alternative source of information and enlightenment. It was not to be. Unfortunately for listeners, VOA’s Somali programmes are headed by Yusuf Garaad’s soul mate. Not surprisingly, his malpractices are almost a copycat of those of his mentor at the BBC Somali Service. The programmes of VOA are being used to a large extent to promote certain agendas that are deemed to conflate with clan interest and strategies. As Yusuf Garaad has supported at different times fellow clan warlords and Islamists of various hues and colours, or opposed government leaders hailing from clans perceived as enemies, or supported the secession in the North for no other reason than shared common interests against third parties, so has the head of the VOA Somali programmes followed in his footsteps. No one who listens to VOA Somali programme will fail to be struck how it has given the secessionists unbridled publicity and de facto recognition as an independent entity separate from Somalia. One does not have to go much further for evidence that their programme beamed on the occasion of 26 June commemorating the date when Somaliland gained its independence from Britain. VOA’s correspondent in Hargeisaa was given so much time and carte blanche to harangue listeners with the independent status of Somaliland as a country that has nothing to do with Somalia, notwithstanding the fact that the international community sees it as parcel and parcel of Somalia. Any objective editor or head of a broadcasting service worth his salt would have ensured that such a programme on an occasion, like the 26 of June, will be covered from many aspects and not only from the perspective of the separatists. The impression this programme gave was that all the people in Somalia are at best indifferent to the secession if not support it. Worse, it sends the message to Somali-speaking people everywhere and the world beyond that ALL the population in former British Somalia, otherwise the North West region of Somalia, are fully behind the secession to a man. The fact that the regions of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn had been relentlessly against the secession since it was declared in 1991 to the point it has to be occupied by the secessionist militia in their desperate quest for secession does not seem to have registered with the Editor of VOA Somali programmes and if it did he must deem it of no consequence as far as he is concerned.. Otherwise, the importance of the occasion of 26 June and the regional divide between those who support the secession and those who vehemently oppose it would have been given equal coverage in the programme for the occasion. The abuse of both the BBC Somali Service, and now VOA Somali programme, had played an insidious part in the long-enduring Somali conflict. Those who care about their country should make their concern and voice heard by the management of these two broadcasting institutions. Remaining silent and passive is not an option. Ali Geeleh We welcome the submission of all articles for possible publication on WardheerNews.com |
