|
If someone goes by the statements of the international community
regarding Somalis he will get the impression that the international
community is trying hard to solve the Somali problem while Somalis are
contributing nothing toward solving their problem. Similarly if one
reads the international media, one will get the impression that all
Somalis are involved in lawlessness and piracy while the international
media is providing objective and unbiased news and analysis of Somali
problems. Such impressions are far from the reality. That is not to say
that Somalis do not bear the primary responsibility for their present
situation, or that the international community does not do some positive
things for Somalis, or that the international media never sheds light on
the Somali predicament, but it is to say that both the international
community and the international media have done substantial damage to
Somalis.
Take for instance the case of the ship M/V Layla. When news first broke
out about this ship, international news agencies kept repeating the line
that the ship was hijacked by Somali pirates. This line was first fed to
the international media by Andrew Mwangura, a Kenyan national who claims
to be coordinator of East Africa’s Seafarers and who has allegedly
developed a business stake in the continuation of piracy by acting as a
middle man between pirates, ship owners, and the media. Three days
later, Mwangura changed his narrative and the Chinese news agency Xinhua
ran the head line “hijacked Cambodian cargo ship no pirate attack” which
was attributed to him. His new version was that “MV LAYLA-S is being
held hostage in port Berbera by Somali businessmen owing to a deal which
has gone sour.” The truth of the matter is that the M/V Layla was not
subjected to hijacking, hostage taking or piracy. All that happened was
that the M/V Layla came to Berbera port, unloaded its cargo, and while
it was there, a legal case was filed against it by a Somaliland
merchant, and a court of law ordered that the vessel be held pending the
resolution of the case, as confirmed in a letter by Bille Hirsi Ciid,
deputy general manager of Berbera Port.
Rather than treating it as a legal case, the international media
sensationalized the issue and portrayed it first as a case of piracy and
hijacking and then as a case of hostage taking. Little or no mention was
made of Somaliland’s rule of law or Somaliland’s efforts to prevent
piracy. Actually, if the international news media are to be believed, Mr
Mwangura who works closely with pirates is the good guy while Somaliland
is the culprit. Even in the few instances when the international
community made moves toward helping those countries affected by piracy,
it has helped Yemen, Djibouti, Kenya, and Sheikh Sharif’s toothless
government, but refused to engage with the one country that is in the
front line when it comes to combating piracy. That is what we mean when
we say the international community and the international media are
making the Somali problem worse.
|
|
