Soldier of misfortune: Journalist Mohamed Olad Hassan

[NASSIR]

Soldier of misfortune: How journalist Mohamed Olad Hassan is battling to tell the world the truth about Somalia

 

By Alex Kiprotich The Independent August 5, 2010

 

Every time Mohamed Olad Hassan bids goodbye to his family of six it is with that same mixture of excitement and sadness felt by a soldier departing for the battlefield. Unlike members of the armed forces, the BBC World Service's. man in Somalia carries only a pen and a notebook in his kitbag.

 

Hassan has survived bomb and mortar attacks, witnessed colleagues die, and seen mass deaths by suicide bombers; yet his determination to tell the world what is happening in the Horn of Africa continues strong. "If I run away, the criminals tormenting my countrymen will have triumphed. The world will not know the heinous crimes which are being committed," he says.

 

His quest for the truth in Somalia comes at great personal strain, he admits. The 33-year-old recalls how last year the militant Islamist al-Shabab rebel group ordered him to refer to them in his reports as "al-Shabab al-Mujahedeen". But "If I did this, it meant they were fighting a holy war [jihad] on behalf of the Somali people – which isn't true," he says. Hassan's impartial reporting from Somalia has now been recognised in his being awarded the Speaker Abbot Award for Bravery by the Parliamentary Press Gallery at Westminster.

 

In December, he narrowly survived death while covering a graduation ceremony in a Mogadishu hotel. "People were making speeches, and we were taking notes, as usual. Then all this brightness turned to darkness," he says. "All I remember is being covered in dust. I looked across, and the young guy who was sitting next to me was dead. The seat he occupied was mine. We had changed positions briefly when I left momentarily to move my recorder nearer to the speakers." More than 20 people died in the attack.

 

In 2007 Hassan suffered a shrapnel injury in the leg when a mortar round landed outside his house in Mogadishu during fighting between Ethiopian troops and insurgents. Reporting in Somalia is a matter of life and death, he says, with journalists preoccupied with their safety rather than thinking of story ideas: "I can equate journalism here to death. A week hardly passes without getting threats from groups who want to influence the way you report, and who accuse reporters as the spies of Western countries."

 

He has been forced to move house at short notice, or even relocate to neighbouring Kenya, when the threats have been most serious. At times, he has to hire security guards just to venture onto the streets. He says he has "never regretted" leaving teaching to become a journalist. However "there are moments when I go out of Somalia, on a short visit to a neighbouring country, and regret the situation in my country, and how my people are deprived of living in peace."

 

In a citation for the Speaker Abbot Award, Joseph Warungu, head of African News and Current Affairs at the BBC World Service, described Hassan as the voice of the voiceless in Somalia. "A number of journalists and media professionals have been killed in recent months in Somalia. However, Mohamed has chosen to stay in Mogadishu because of a desire to inform the world, to tell the truth, and help bring peace and democracy in his country."

 

Warungu noted that Hassan's reporting of Somalia includes stories of the lives of ordinary people. "Even positive and harmless stories, such as a college graduation, carry grave danger," says Warungu.

 

Hassan says it should be understood that mostSomalis are determined to try to improve their society, rather than flee abroad: "Bad things are happening in our country, but most people would rather die in their country than leave." Hassan's remarkable bravery in the field was not enough to get him to Britain to receive his award: the Home Office refused him a visa on the grounds that he had applied too late. The journalist believes there is a stereotyped "Western view of Somalis as asylum seekers".

 

"In my view, the world does not care about Somalia," he adds. "Their fear is terrorism. If they were really interested in its stability, a solution would have been found by now." Source:

 

The Independent

[Amistad]

What this article doesnt say is he could not even attend the award ceremony because the British Home Office refused him a Visa.

[nuune]

Originally posted by Amistad:

What this article

doesnt say

is he could not even attend the award ceremony because the British

Home Office refused him a Visa

.

Can you provide some source please!

 

Thanks

[NASSIR]

"A number of journalists and media professionals have been killed in recent months in Somalia. However, Mohamed has chosen to stay in Mogadishu because of a desire to inform the world, to tell the truth, and help bring peace and democracy in his country."

His heroic work is well noted and appreciated by every world citizen.

 

Amistad, they should have given him the Visa but u never know the grounds for their denial or other extenuating circumstaces that prevented him from accepting the prestigious award in person.

[Amistad]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/soldier-of-misfortune-how-journalist-mohamed-olad-hass an-is-battling-to-tell-the-world-the-truth-about-somalia-2043385.html

 

 

Nunne... the source was from the Independents Page itself in the comments section/blog, what appears to be a UK/Somali National had written in and stated that. I of course cant verify the truthfulness of those comments. See below:

 

Mr Hassan is a Somalian hero who chose to remain in Somalia to tell the World how Somalia is being terrorized by foreigners. It has saddened me that the great journalist cannot even collect his award because the Home Office in London refused him a visa. If he was a Kenyan journalist, I am sure he would have been allowed to come to Britain. What a discrimination. It only illustrates how unjust the Home Office is.

[Amistad]

Originally posted by Nassir:

quote:

"A number of journalists and media professionals have been killed in recent months in Somalia. However, Mohamed has chosen to stay in Mogadishu because of a desire to inform the world, to tell the truth, and help bring peace and democracy in his country."

His heroic work is well noted and appreciated by every world citizen.

 

Amistad, they should have given him the Visa but u never know the grounds for their denial or other extenuating circumstaces that prevented him from accepting the prestigious award in person.

Yes, but when you do heros work such as he does almost daily, it is nice to receive recognition for that, even if its just ONE DAY ! I hope the Beeb is paying him well for risking his life on a daily basis.

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Originally posted by nuune:

quote:Originally posted by Amistad:

What this article

doesnt say is he could not even attend the award ceremony because the British

Home Office refused him a Visa

.

Can you provide some source please!

 

Thanks

Here it is, kaabo:

 

BBC reporter and award-winner is refused British entry visa

 

A BBC reporter has been refused entry to the UK to collect a Parliamentary award for services to press and democratic freedom. Mohamed Olad Hassan, the main English language correspondent in Mogadishu for the BBC World Service, was chosen to receive the Speaker Abbott award by a panel of senior Parliamentarians, Speaker John Bercow and Tribune, which sponsors the award.

 

But his flight, and a two-week programme of events and meetings organised by the Parliamentary Press Gallery, which instituted and organises the award, had to be abandoned when the British High Commission in Nairobi, Kenya, rejected his visa application.

 

The award was accepted on Olad’s behalf by his colleague, Head of the World Service Africa Region Jerry Timmins, who told a reception in the Speaker’s House: “Olad sees this as an award not just for him but for all those who support him in his work and all the other journalists around the world who put their lives at risk to report the truth.”

 

More

[Maaddeey]

Colaad, war la faabrikeeyey ayuu qoraa isagoo qolkiisa isaga jira!, taas aniga iga qora.

[Dhagax-Tuur]

Abuse of the word 'hero' here, isn't it? The man does his job, and it happens to be in a very dangereous place at that. Nothing more. This does not make him, in this case, a hero. A hero, as the word was use to be used, was someone whose actions were of benefit to others or beneficial to one's or people's safety. But, I can not see how he can be called a 'hero'. Before, anyone jumps the gun, it is not a case on my part being envious of the fellow been honoured as such.

 

Maraq you all.

[Polanyi]

Mr Olad is the same "hero" who makes up baseless stories like "Somali Islamists Ban Bras" or "Islamists remove gold teeth". lol.

[Abwaan]

Originally posted by Maaddeey:

Colaad, war la faabrikeeyey ayuu qoraa isagoo qolkiisa isaga jira!, taas aniga iga qora.

Faabriko for you and few others but the truth for many. Inuu qol ku jiro iyo inuu barxad wax ka soo tebiyo sidee ku ogaatey, ma kuwa markii dadku Masaajidka ka soo baxaan daba gala ayaad la shaqaysaa oo jaanis baad ku weyseen? Mise hadduusan warkiisu u janjeersan dhinaca kuwa Soomaali nabadda ka hortaagan ee aad taageertid warkiisu kuguma socdo? I believe Mr Colaad is a good journalist, whose work and the risk he takes deserve to be recognised.

[Maaddeey]

Sheekooyinkiisa uu BBC ku soo qoro markaad akhriso ayaad fahmi lahayd, ee adoon is indha tirayn 'rabbit punches'kana iska kala yaree, sxb.

[Amistad]

Originally posted by Dhagax-Tuur:

Abuse of the word 'hero' here, isn't it? The man does his job, and it happens to be in a very dangereous place at that. Nothing more. This does not make him, in this case, a hero. A hero, as the word was use to be used, was someone whose actions were of benefit to others or beneficial to one's or people's safety. But, I can not see how he can be called a 'hero'. Before, anyone jumps the gun, it is not a case on my part being envious of the fellow been honoured as such.

 

Maraq you all.

well I guess that makes the board or consortium of journalistic folks giving him this award, by your definition not a hero, obsolete then.

 

Wow, lets see... your opinion or theirs.

[NASSIR]

"All I remember is being covered in dust. I looked across, and the young guy who was sitting next to me was dead. The seat he occupied was mine. We had changed positions briefly when I left momentarily to move my recorder nearer to the speakers." More than 20 people died in the attack.

How lucky is Mr. Olad to survive that Shaamo carnage?

 

Olad is very talented, methodical and fairly ethical in his reports and analysis. It's undeniable feature of his personality and profession unless you have an ax to grind.

[Dhagax-Tuur]

"well I guess that makes the board or consortium of journalistic folks giving him this award, by your definition not a hero, obsolete then.

 

Wow, lets see... your opinion or theirs."

 

Well, I am an individual, ain't I? Therefore my opinion counts as much as anyone else's.