Opinion
Urgent Letter to The International Community & Somali Journalists
By
Jan 9, 2010 - 10:42:46 PM

BY: A. Dirie

Dear Friends, and Colleagues,

I've been following with great concern the exchanged emails between the waring colleagues,its really unfortunate to see our debate reaching this level of obscenity, therefore, i decided to join this debate in a desperate attempt to pacify its path.
I will try as best i can to focus on the key points in this bitter dispute, though, shifting the debate from contentious matters to sub-issues like emails authenticity and accusations of forgery will not solve anything,we can exchange accusations and counter-accusations without reaching any mutual understanding endlessly, I'm sure however when all this ends, the ultimate loser will be the Somali journalism credibility.

Thus,its in our best interest to focus on the focal points of this dispute rather than spinning in endless circles, which i believe personally is the main source of this major misconception.

I will try to highlight the key elements in this dispute in the following lines, before i start, I would like to recall this old Somali story which carries deep meanings within it ,kindly read the story and then THINK.
 
Traditional Somali Story

once upon a time, in the vast Somali desert, there was a man, dangerously ambitious, and smart above the average levels, he sat one day under the shade of tree thinking of a way to get rich quick,and because of the fact that having Camels was at that classical time the only way to officially join Rich men club, he quickly came to conclusion that he has to steal some one's camels and who is better victim than his goofy neighbor.

The next day,he Knocked at his neighbor's door and told him that since he is an old man suffering from multiple illnesses, he for humanitarian purposes decided to take his camels to the village's only water source for watering,his neighbor unsuspectingly handed him over his camels without questioning this sudden humanitarian gesture.

With Foxes smile on his face, he took the camels to the Well, and then straight to nearby Cattle pen.

After some hours,his neighbor started searching for him, till he found him entertaining himself , chatting and relaxing with some of his closest friends, he asked him about the camels, he answered amusingly  "You seem to confuse between me and another person", his neighbor became very mad and could not afford his continued denials, and went off in a wave of anger,local villagers intervened and suggested to refer the dispute to the village chief, they both agreed on that.

Before going to the Village chief,the smart guy did very tricky move, he claimed that he cant go to the chief because he lost his Turban which was considered at that time very important sign of honor and manliness.

The unsuspecting man suggested to borrow him,one of his unused Turbans, and then they went together before the village chief,the naive neighbor began to introduce the issue from his own prospective to the chief, believing that its easy case and its only matter of time before the chief orders to arrest the nasty thief.

The chief ordered the thief to stand before him and answer these theft allegations, the thief stood up with foxes smile on his face and said "This man is totally crazy and i will not be surprised if he claims now that this Turban on my head is his"!!!.

The chief looked at the old man and asked him ,what do you say Grandy?! he answered  'YES ITS MY TURBAN OF COURSE".

The chief laughed at him and dismissed his claims and even accused him of total insanity."END OF THE STORY"
 
I really don't know why when ever i come cross any facts related to NUSOJ, this classical Somali story comes automatically into my mind, i personally believe there is many similarities between the two stories,giving the fact that there is many crucial elements in this case was not discussed properly, instead , when colleagues rise NUSOJ issue seriously, always some body turn the entire debate into totally different direction, i believe that this is pre-planned task, and arge colleagues not to open sub-debates and stick to the main issues which can be summarized into the following lines:
 
Omar Faruk was relatively unknown figure prior to NUSOJ formation, thus, logically can not represent the Somali journalists or Somali media outlets, this is basic logic, I'm quite sure that if he asked about his contribution to the Somali media prior to NUSOJ formation, he can present NOTHING, i repeat NOTHING.
Moreover,Many colleagues within Somali media scene are asking serious questions about how dear a person with no known contribution to brazenly claim that he represents the Somali media,and most surprisingly, to be recognized by International Media bodies. It is totally odd and leads one to think in matters too far from Journalism.

Somali journalists are asking also, whether his British passport is granting him immunity from accountability,more interestingly there are whispers between Somali journalists about the real reason behind Mr, Aidan White's holding on Mr.Faruk for his dear life.

Note: Mr.Aidan White,IFJ Boss is a British national, while Mr. Omar Faruk is newly naturalized British Citizen.

Here is the serious question :How come an alleged journalist from the poorest country on earth(regardless of his newly acquired UK Citizenship) becomes so powerful that no body can hold him accountable???

NUSOJ can be better described as a one man's NGO or probably Mr. Omar Faruk's private farm, Despite the Fancy name "National Union of Somali Journalists", NUSOJ proved it self to be a Notorious Mafia style organization, Faruk handpicked low profile journalists and reportedly paid them to join his organization, by marginalizing the high profile prominent Somali journalists both in the country and exile, I'm afraid that he guaranteed that no body can certainly hold him accountable,its widely known that most of the prominent Somali journalists were excluded from his Cosa-Nostra style organization.

In a relevant development,recently, 18 Mogadishu based Media outlets have issued a joint press statement, they have announced that NUSOJ can not represent them under any circumstances, they also urged the International Community to contact them directly not via suspicious third parties.

According to my understanding of the sophisticated contemporary world, when it comes to the ability to influence the local people, no body is capable of performing this task than the famous local journalists,from this standpoint,when International Media organizations organizes seminars or workshops it should be normally intended for influential journalists who are able to change hearts and minds and redirect public opinion into positive directions, therefore when NUSOJ mobilizes low profile journalists to attend these seminars and conferences , its indeed a systematic waste of the global effort in this regard.

Note: Mogadishu Media outlets can be contacted Independently to clarify their position on NUSOJ
 
In recent interview with CNN,Omar Faruk proved him self as a smart sales man,he rode the human rights and press freedom defenders wave quite successfully,while the obvious fact beyond any doubts is simply that,he him self is the biggest obstacle facing the Somali press freedom.

Omar Faruk used the current worrying situation in Somalia, where Journalists are suffering from continuous threats, intimidation, and large-scale systematic violence from the conflicting parties in Somalia, to smartly market him self as the only press freedom defender in Somalia,as expected he was able to get the sympathy of millions of people around the world and more importantly all the funds allocated for Somali press development projects.

As expected from a person who collected his reprehensible wealth by using fraudulent and roundabout methods, he reportedly spends most of those funds on unnecessary trips to foreign countries,and also during his stay in  expensive five-star hotels(Grand Regency, Hilton , Intercontinental, Chester house... you name it), while unfortunately Somali  journalists community members are working in very difficult conditions, i personally recently witnessed a very unfortunate situation in Mogadishu, I saw a large group of local journalists(more than 30 journalists) sharing old computer that costs roughly $80(Eighty USD) to write their daily reports, you can imagine the conditions they live under, this story and others is why i have decided to join this crusade campaign against NUSOJ and its suspicious Boss.

It is surprising though, that an organization without Internal regulations to determine who is entitled to join the organization and who is not, and without any clear written financial statements, to get this tremendous amount of global recognition and trust.

If you see lion's mouth stained with blood, its naivety to ask what was he doing?, therefore, we urge International Community to step in and neutralize this dangerous threat that Omar Faruk and his Mafia style organization poses to the Somali press freedom and Somali media science as whole.

Before the suspicious emergence of NUSOJ, Somali Journalists were considered a symbol of national unity, unfortunately, this beautiful image has gone with NUSOJ emergence on the scene,NUSOJ has dispersed the journalists into tribal and factional affiliations which resulted in lack of confidence between the journalists, the worst of all is the fact that NUSOJ adopted new dirty methods to drive a wedge between colleagues, unfortunately its really sad to know that some colleagues has taken bribes from Omar Faruk to undermine our efforts to put an end to this farce, although some of them are now based in Europe, they are still active in whoring for their suspicious boss.

Omar Faruk holds the entire Somali press community at ransom, they should now step up and rise their voices against him, let the world know who is Omar Faruk and his Bandits.

As I'm writing this letter, I'm getting reports from trustworthy sources that Omar Faruk is working on counter measures against some of the Somali journalists based in Nairobi, this measures includes but not limited to bribing some corrupt Kenyan police officers to intimidate Somali journalists in Nairobi also to fabricate moral turpitude charges like rape,theft and drug abuse, and then use that as a vocational blackmailing tool.
 
Finally, i urge all concerned parties especially the International Media organizations and other active members of international community to immediately initiate a fact finding mission to gather all relevant facts in this issue, and then act accordingly.
 
BY: A. Dirie
a.dirie@somalivision.com



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