First Act of Emergency Law 'Curtail Press Freedom.

[Suldaanka]

The gov't is the National and legitimate gov't of somalia. They have every right to register the media with them

So, what about the Puntland Radio Stations? Shouldn't they be off Air as well till they get registered?

[RedSea]

^well the Puntland media is intended to spearhead lies for the TFG.

 

They closed down all the potential news stations that would likey expose what isn't out there already.I mean come on, whether they close them down or not, the simple fact of the truth is out there for us to see..the TFG was born dead,thus how can we except someone telling us to believe it's legitamate "government"...lol o brother.

[Captain Xalane]

Originally posted by Mujaahid: Red Sea:

^well the Puntland media is intended to spearhead lies for the TFG.

 

They closed down all the potential news stations that would likey expose what isn't out there already.I mean come on, whether they close them down or not, the simple fact of the truth is out there for us to see..the TFG was born dead,thus how can we except someone telling us to believe it's legitamate "government"...lol o brother.

U only have one thing in mind and thats Puntland.U love the land and its pple as much as u love the devil himself.Can't u reason with out Puntland being involved?

[Taako Man]

Puntland media and Bay and Bakool media such as maayradio and many other media have already complied with the TFG. Radio Banadir and many other radio stations have already complied and there is no need for this.

 

Hornafrik and Shabelle, Al jazeera etc haven't complied and will be up and running soon.

 

Hornafrik was shut down for a brief period of time by the UIC and Radio jowhar and radio mogadishu was for a period of time too.

 

But nobody was complaining then and now are raising there hands up in awe?

[Wisdom_Seeker]

Taako

 

So the TFG should follow the same procedures they have criticized the ICU of? That makes some sense.

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Originally posted by Caano Geel:

yaa xasuusta bar fiat

Caanogeel iyo Che, I opened a thread about this part of Xamar the other week when I watched cajal laga soo duubay agagaarkaas recently.

 

Cajalkaan muuqaalka iyo codba leh agagaarkaas dhan aad ka hadleysiin ayuu cover gareeye. Aad ayaa u qiironee hadaad fiirsatid.

 

It talks and shows about Iskoolka Bartamaha, Baar Fiat, Xarunta Fiat, Safaaradaha Ruushka iyo Talyaaniga, Savoy Centre, Hoteel Jubba iyo many more wasaaradooyin iyo wakaaladooyin. Inkastoo markaa yaraa meelahaas aan waligeey tagin, haddaan tageyna aan xasuusan, meelahaas waa meelihii Xamar ugu sareeye, aad iyo aad, oo ahayd bartamaha iyo xudunta Xamar.

 

You can find both videos on here

[Jabhad]

HornAfrik media, A Somali-Canadian success.

 

INDEPTH: A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE

Somalia: Brave new airwaves

 

CBC News Online | February 19, 2004

 

 

Reporter: Carol Off | Producer: Debi Goodwin

From The National Feb. 17, 2004

 

Somalia is a country with no government, no apparent help from the outside world. The capital Mogadishu is ruled by warlords, freelance militia, and a lot of guns. But in this chaos is a voice of hope, make that many voices. They come from a nascent radio and television network created by a group of Somali Canadians. They believe giving voice to the people can make a world of difference.

 

A reporter, a cameraman and a gun are the elements needed for a Somali television crew to head out for their day's work. There are a lot of stories to cover on the war-torn streets of Mogadishu and only one way to get the job done. Under the protection of private security forces, hired gunmen.

It's a holiday in Somalia and the TV crew is assigned to go into the marketplace and gauge the public mood. This is a light story, but no one lets their guard or their gun down. While the reporter learns about bargains in men's shorts, someone else in the crowd expresses his opinion of the media-with a gunshot. The critic isn't sure he's got the message across, so he fires again.

Trying to produce fair and objective media coverage in a country shattered by civil war and controlled by warlords seems almost impossible, but that's exactly what Horn Afrik Radio and Television is trying to do. It's the brainchild of three Somali Canadians who came home to give a voice to ordinary people. Operating out of a secure compound, Horn Afrik broadcasts over one television and two radio stations. It also transmits BBC and Voice of America programs.

Ahmed Aden is the program director. He's one of three owners who launched Horn Afrik four years ago, believing the answer to conflict was communication. He went to Canada in 1989, fleeing the breakdown of Somalia. He found a good job working for the city of Ottawa. He bought a house and started to raise a family, but he couldn't forget his homeland. He says he was able to go back into the heart of the danger he had fled only because of the security Canada had given him.

"If I was not able to adjust to the life in Ottawa or in Canada, I do not believe I would be able to come back here and do what I'm doing here," Aden says. "In fact, it is that confidence that you gain in Canada that allowed me to come back here and to do to take the level of risk and to do whatever I'm doing."

 

He came home to be the news director in a media business with Canadian ideas. In defiance of Somalia's strict social codes, his employees come from all different clans and include a number of career women, something quite radical for this society. Reporters are dispatched to places where no one goes to help anymore, not even aid workers.

On this morning, Horn Afrik investigates the story of a gang rape the night before in one of Mogadishu's many sprawling camps for displaced people. Women and children are consistently the victims of the chaos and anarchy in Somalia.

Reporter Mohamed Hassan is one of the few people to ever ask the women what's happening. "She said that we are in fear. Sometimes they come here to rape, sometimes they loot our properties. We are in fear. There is nobody who's going to protect us," Hassan says of his assignment to interview the women.

 

Horn Afrik is very ambitious. In a country without any government, its owners feel they have to do more than just cover the stories. They bring in community activists to help determine what collectively they could do to fix the problems exposed in the news.

Ali Sharmarke is another founding owner. He had a good job in the federal Finance Department in Ottawa before he felt compelled to return here. "We see the media as a means to do a social change, and probably I can say now Horn Afrik is one of the best instruments for social change in Somalia," Sharmarke says.

 

This transmission tower was only half built when the all-powerful warlords tried to take it down. Ironically, it was with help from their own clan that Horn Afrik's owners resisted. But warlords and their gunmen have attacked several times. The most devastating occasion when gunmen murdered Horn Afrik's driver.

 

"We are in the middle of chaotic environment, and all of us through our activities, we are at the risk of getting killed. That's the reality," Sharmarke says.

 

Not everyone has a gun in Somalia, but just about everyone has access to a radio. Horn Afrik reaches a broad audience of Somalis with programs modelled on ones from Canada.

 

"One idea that stuck very strong with me in Canada is the idea of people talking to each other over the radio by phone, people able to call. I listened to all sorts of programs from Rex Murphy to CounterSpin to people talking to each other and people calling," Aden says.

 

Meet Somalia's Rex Murphy. Filistine Imam hosts one of the most popular shows in Mogadishu, an afternoon call-in program where people have the courage to criticize the militias and gunmen who terrorize them. The broadcast is nothing short of subversive.

 

"The two things that work for militia leaders is misinformation and an isolation," Aden says. "So they put you into a group, a camp, and say you are different, you are unique. Your problem is only your problem, and I am the only person that can help you with that. Here you had people talking to each other from different parts of the city, talking about the same issues."

 

In another room, Farah Usef is working the phones for his As It Happens-style program called Today's Events. He's trying to interview warlords to ask them why they are stalling the Somali peace talks.

 

"The call is getting through, but mostly they don't answer. Even if they answer, mostly they speak in a very rude language," Usef says.

 

Usef has all their numbers as he works through his warlord directory. He has only a few hours to put together the show all by himself. So far, no interviews. Aden is more surprised that many warlords do talk to Horn Afrik and some have actually come into the studio. It makes him optimistic.

 

"I can see people's attitudes changing from things that they never thought of yesterday that is possible today, and to me, the most powerful change comes from the mind," Aden says.

 

Technology gives Horn Afrik a reach and a scope that the primitive warmongers of Somalia can never have, but that technology depends on things over which Horn Afrik has no control.

 

For Usef, one of the phone lines is dead, there's only one phone line left and 45 minutes before the show.

 

In the TV studio, an arts and culture show is just ending. They strike the set quickly getting rid of the flowers and the fluff to make way for the evening newscast. Jaytaye Osman Jaytaye is a switcher. When he was a child, he saw his father gunned down. His mother moved him to Canada. He came back here on his own to learn about his country. He was shocked to see the anarchy and destruction here. Horn Afrik is the only place that gives him hope.

 

"You have all these different clans that work, are friends in the same place. Everybody gets along, and that's how Somalia should be, like Horn Afrik, but it's not right now," Jaytaye says.

 

Horn Afrik is the small enterprise with big dreams of infecting Somalia with the values its owners acquired a world away.

 

"What is more important than the education we get from Canada and America is the culture, culture of tolerance," Sharmarke says. "If we, rather than pulling apart and destroying, if we try to bring it [somalia] together and build it, it's more than enough."

 

For 12 years, Somalis have lived in anarchy and violence, a country forgotten and abandoned by the rest of the world. But on the strength of those with the courage to go back, there's hope to talk back the night. Farah Usef finally got his warlord accountability interview. His show made it to air. The night lights up with the free exchange of ideas and a glimmer of hope.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/world/somalia.html