By Batala-Ra McFarlane
Anger at StarTribune
report: Somalis are war victims, not warlord underwriters
A November 19th, StarTribune article headed, "Somalis
funnel millions to East Africa" alleges that Somali residents
who live in Minnesota are funding Somali warlords' war activity in
Somali. The article leaves the reader thinking that perhaps Somali
people are taking advantage of Minnesota generosity. According to
Insight News' Al McFarlane, host of the Insight News/KMOJ Public
Policy Forum at Lucille's Kitchen, the reportage makes it easy for
a person to label, then marginalize the new community.
"I think that there was a lot of ill feelings about what
has happened. There are a lot of assertions made in the article
that are highly offensive to the Somalis," said Ibrahim
Ayeh, a Somali elder who addressed the Public Policy
Forum last week.
While the article was supposed to educate Minnesota's larger
community about Somali culture, on the contrary, it did the
community a great disservice, he said. "The article has
caused a lot of anger, insecurity and even fear to the Somalis. It
has put mistrust in the Somali community."
Those who know how the Somali warlords work, would not assert
that Somalis in Minnesota would send money to the warlords. With
the longest shoreline on the continent of Africa, Somalia has been
beset by political unrest for the past two decades. According to
Ayeh, Somalia has not had an official government in 10 years. What
exists is a no-man's land subject to clan law or Islamic Shari'ah
law. A decentralized federation of regional political entities has
emerged, including the self-proclaimed, but unrecognized Republic
of Somaliland in the northwest, the self-proclaimed Puntland
State in the northeast and Jubaland in the south near
Kismayo.
"The warlords in Somalia don't need money from Somalis in
Minnesota," said Ayeh. "They have been well-established
even before Somalis came to Minnesota. In fact, when the warlords
were challenging the United Nations and the United States forces
in Somali to the extent that they forced them to leave the
country, very few families were in Minnesota and the United States
as a whole.
"The warlords who put their hands on the nations wealth
robbed banks and the national stores. They dismantled factories
and exported them overseas for cash. They control territories and
national resources. They control airports, seaports, all
institutions. They tax people. They export the national resources
of the country. They print their own money. They even get support
from other countries. They are engaged in a global business. They
are rich," said Ayeh.
Somalis do send money back home to family and friends, like
many people do, because of the Somali tradition of strong
families. What is sent back is money to keep the Somali families
alive who could've died of hunger by now, he said.
Adbirizak Bihi, another elder added, "As
a matter of fact for the past 25 years, even when there was a
government, there was a very oppressive government that was
supported by the US and western governments and by Russia and the
eastern governments. This (former) government did a lot of
genocide to Somalis. This eventually lead to the fall of the
government. Somalia is the only country in the world that hasn't
had a government within the last 10 years.
"The only type of support now that Somali ever receives is
that from weak, oppressive governments that perpetrate civil
anarchy, genocide, rape, continuous hostility amongst clans,"
he said explaining that governments supply the warlords.
"We came here as refugees who fled from the same people
the warlords. It's like saying that Jewish people send billions to
Nazi organizations," he said.
"We strive to educate Minnesotans about our culture. We
educate our community about the American culture so we can create
a bridge of communication. There are many other issues that need
to be written about. We have a housing problem, employment
problems, social problems; we do not speak the local language. We
have cultural and language barriers found in a lot of households
which are mainly single-parent households because the husband has
been killed in the civil war or caught up in the refugee camps.
"On average, we have a mom with eight kids," said
Bihii. "She doesn't speak English. She doesn't understand the
ways of the culture of the local people, even if they have the
best intentions. We have to live with these barriers every day. We
don't appreciate the unfounded labels that appeared in the
article.
For more information, contact Sayed Fahia at the Confederation
of Somalis in Minnesota at 612-338-5282. Also, to respond to the
Nov., 19th StarTribune article, do not hesitate to contact the
StarTribune at 612-673-4414 or through their website,
www.startribune.com.
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