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At the end of the account, I will share with you the little that I know regarding the real reasons why a clique within the organizing committee succeeded to impede me from sitting in the Media/BBC panels at the 11th hour. I hope the reader would weigh in on the information to arrive at a reasonable judgment of what became of the SSIA in Columbus. June 16: At about 5:00 pm., Saturday, AliNur Mohamed, a former college-mate at Lafoole, Faculty of Education, Somali National University, someone I have not spoken to for a long period of time, called me; Ali invited me to sit in a round-table discussion on “The Somali Crisis as Reported by the BBC Somali Service: Credible Source or Factional Partisan?” that he was putting together. Given my participation in another panel for which I was drafting a paper on “Global and Local Norms: Challenges to Somaliland’s Unilateral Secession,” I accepted the added challenge. AliNur and I talked for a fair amount of time, basically to catch up, and he enthusiastically expressed to me how good of a balance and a counter point I would bring to that of the BBC’s Yusuf Garad. We briefly talked about WardheerNews and the need to have civil but rigorous discourse on the role of Media and Somali politics. July 8 (I could be off by a day or so?): AliNur called me from a hospital in Texas where he was attending to a sick family member. I wished him good luck. He said he called to familiarize me with the names of the other panelists and “to cement my assurances for my participation.” Without delving into how he referenced my role visa-vi other members at the panel, I was humbled by his call, especially while attending to a more serious business at out of state hospital. That placed an extra responsibility on my shoulders to work harder to make his panel more successful. July 20: I jotted down a note on my daily planner, a little black book that is so central to my work and my life that I spoke with Said M. Shire, member of the organizing committee. I became acquainted with Said since May through a mutual friend (Anwar Diriye, author of Somali names) for the purpose of presenting a paper at the conference. Said and I discussed AliNur’s invitation and my subsequent acceptance to sit in the panel, and that he was looking forward to seeing me do well in what he called “the BBC panel.” July 29: I called AliNur right before I finalized the itinerary for my trip to Columbus. I let him know that the posted preliminary program was still omitting my name. On August 1: I received his response saying that he “will call you to touch base. But let me call the conference organizers before I call you to have them adjust the draft”. After that, I never heard from him! Instead, I spoke several times with Said Shire, basically small chats and mainly on Somali history, a subject he is a master of, as well as updates about the conference. My telephone/e-mail contacts with Said by then become more frequent, and we have had significant exchanges on the future of the Conference. We talked about how great the conference could be, bringing together some of the giants in the Somali literature such as Hadraawi, Said Salah, Gaariye, and other matters. Before we concluded this conversation, Said was kind enough to let me know the names of other member of the round-table discussion as it would appear in the final program. August 6: I checked the final program posted on the Somali Studies web site, and surprisingly my name was still missing from the media panels. So was AliNur’s promised call. Instead, I called Said, with whom I had developed positive rapport by now, and inquired why my name is not listed in the media panels. He emphatically replied, “Faisal, when the organizing committee was finalizing the program, your name was added to the BBC panel per AliNur’s request. If your name is missing from the posted version it may be a simple clerical error.” Sounding reassuring, he went on further to add that he will communicate with his colleagues and Laura of Ohio State University (OSU), who was handling most of the logistics, and ask them my name to be placed in the BBC panel. August 9: Things would take a sudden twist! Out of the blue, only six days before the conference, I received, for the first time, what I thought to be an extremely cold call from Abdinur Mohamed, the chairman of the SSIA Columbus Organizing Committee. The call was preceded by neither greetings nor expressions of warm words, which, to have come from someone, to wit, with a religious bent so to speak, sounded puzzling. I distantly knew Abdinur through the now defunct ISRAACA internet group, and I suspect we both had mutual respect towards each other. As Abdinur put it, the call was only to verify whether the cashier’s check I sent to Laura, OSU’s point person for the conference, was towards both the registration fee for the conference ($100) and for Dr. Hussein Tanzani’s dinner ($100), respectively. I positively affirmed that assessment. Although I expected more interaction from the chairman (small chats about my upcoming role at the conference), there was no conversation to speak of, nada! I thought that was somewhat strange! Right there, my gut feeling was that the purported call was a crank call, and yet I chose not to say anything, observing a Somali etiquette of “a quiet mouth is gold.” After I hanged up the phone, I pondered for few minutes what [really] the purpose of his call could be?! About ten minutes later (and here is where Somalis would retort, “bal Ilaahay Amarkii”), I opened up my e-mail portal and received the following letter from AliNur, basically uninviting me from the media/BBC panel: “I apologize for the long silence after I said I would get back to you. I did have discussions with the conference organizers about your role in the BBC panel. In the end, they decided that we have enough members on the panel as is. It appears that the BBC might get two people on the panel to join the two non-BBC panelists listed in the program. The organizers did not want to disturb that balance.” The first thing that came to my mind was Abdinur’s call; I murmured to myself: “that SOB was not calling about money!” I quickly placed calls, as many as four within a period of 1 hour, to Abdinur to hear from his mouth that the Organizing Committee made this 11th hour decision. What was the smoking gun about me that the Committee revealed to AliNur to sway him from his earlier solicitation? Who were the committee members he conferred with? Besides wondering in the dark, Abdinur, who was given the responsibility of chairmanship, never bothered to answer my calls. August 10: With a blanket silence looming in the air, and given the weight and sleaziness surrounding the matter, I contacted Said Shire. At the mention of “panel removal,” the usually tolerant Said was bewildered and went berserk; he assured me that no discussion, let alone a decision of this magnitude, was ever taken by the Committee in recent days. Sensing that he himself was kept in the dark, and that the last draft program that the Ohio Organizing Committee had approved included my name in the media/BBC panel, he volunteered to double check with his colleagues and get back to me with some sort of explanation. The next day he got back to me, somewhat weary, betrayed and despondent like anyone in his shoes would be. He shared with me that “he too was entangled with the Organizing Committee from now on.” He had asked that I wait until he exhausts what now has become an internal estrangement! I did not want to pressure Said, a dignified man, so I agreed to wait for him to sort things out. I assumed that there were hard questions to be asked. I would later on learn that an exclusive band parallel to the official Ohio Organizing Committee that excluded Said Shire and Laura in the matter concerning the media/BBC panels took its own life. August 11: I learned few facts from reliable sources as to why the Organizing Committee was besieged by irregularity in decision-making, and the birth of clique within its ranks. AliNur, who is not a member of the Organizing Committee, was more involved than Said Shire in the decision making of this last minute changes. Why AliNur was more involved than Said Shire? Why AliNur, who approached me based on his appreciation for my work and what he called my “critical contribution” to the BBC panel, gave in to pressures and did not stay true to his values? But again, what values?! After all, we are Somalis capable to temporarily suspend professional ethics, friendship; other bonds like religious affinity, for that single evil in all of us. To be exception to the rule, there is a person who was deeply involved as the interlocutor, whose name I will never reveal for the sake of the greater good. With these questions hanging in the air unanswered, and the little information that I learned about the real reason why all these things were happening, I expanded the domain of my communications and sent the following letter to AliNur, the protagonist of the matter, and copied to members of the Organizing Committee, officials at Ohio state University dealing with the Conference, and to Dr. Hussein Adam, the founding president of the Somali Study International Association, whose tribute I did not want to miss. For the first time, the BBC Somali Section came into play as shown as I responded to the Committee by saying that I know the work I do with Warhdeernews.com “did not sit well with the management of the corporation (Somali Section that is). Neither did several pieces written by others. But that is the fun of diversity in ideas. Of all people, I expected you to value differences of opinions given your association with academia! The sudden decision reached by what you termed "the organizing committee" to remove my participation from this panel must be backed by some legitimate factors.” Here is the editorial piece in question: WardheerNews Editorial (The BBC - Once and Icon of Somali Broadcasting may become an irrelevant Entity). I still question how much of Abdinur’s [empty], and scouting telephone call and AliNur’s long silence and his belated e-mail [both apologetic and a stab in the back] were coordinated. I would never know that. I can only surmise that there is a sense of sleaziness and vicious elements in both. But by then, I had ample information that the Head of the BBC Somali Section, Yusuf Garad, a junior to all of us, was at the center of the matter. He was simply afraid to debate me in public, and I take consolation in that. August 12: The next day I received the following arrogant response from AliNur, who initially said that it is the Committee who decided on the action, an action that he professionally did not approve. “I tried very hard to have you on it. My initial suggestion to you and my subsequent suggestion to organizers to include you were done in absolute sincererity. I offer you “Xaalmarin.” Just like his previous promises, AliNur’s call or his mirage “xaalmarin” never came to materialize. Had he called, I would have asked him to give me in no uncertain terms the simple truth, nothing but the true culprit of this vicious affair. But it was not meant to happen that way! Was he given any reason by Abdinur to take this sinister action of manipulating the panels? Is he willing to share that reason with me and the rest of us who care of SSIA? Not quite so. In all this, Abdinur was nowhere to be found – a man with a statue of “missing in action” (MIA). August 15: Despite that the date of the conference was approaching us, a period of eerily sinister silence ensued! No final program adding my name to any media panel was yet posted. The draft version on the Somali Studies website was still the same, omitting my name. By then, the only person I was in contact with was Said Shire, who had expressed to me that he too was in a fit, demanding an explanation of how and why things were done behind his back. On Wednesday, 15 August, I flew to Columbus. After all, I had my major paper to present. Several friends that I consulted rather advised me to take the high ground and stay away from making any scene at the conference venue. I assured them that things would be fine and I will always focus on the bigger picture, although I will not rest till I get to the bottom of the entire matter. August 17: The night of paying tribute to Dr. Hussein. Before the dinner, I finally mastered access to my e-mail and read what the touted committee’s letter was all about. A letter written to me while I was 1 hour in the air flying over Nevada en route to Columbus may speak for itself. I was surprised how callous and an empty letter that it was and responded to it with the following: “We have been unable to include you on the BBC panel. In General, we try to accommodate as much as we can each and every participant's requests, but sometimes we are unable to accommodate all.” (Abdinur Sh. Mohamed, Chair Abdi M. Kusow, Vice Chair: Wed, 15 Aug 2007 10:01 am) The first thing that struck me was: “Where is the signature of Said M. Shire, the third member of the Committee?” I knew, from reliable sources, Yusuf Garad was involved in shaping the media panels and those who singed this letter were not courageous enough to put that in their response. The conversation that I had with Said later shows that, since he was neither consulted nor given any credible reason for such a decision (except what he noticed to be a calculated effort to accommodate Yusuf Garad's unfair demands, which was to remove me from the media panel), he declined to “go along.” Surprised by the cold nature of the letter, I responded, “You have not said why and how you arrived at the decision, especially after I have demanded some credible reason. Kusow said he knows nothing about this decision. And Said disagreed with you. I think you have a lot of explaining to me. I am terribly disappointed with you and with your friend Alinur.” I have also communicated this information to Laura, Hussein Adam, Said Samatar and Ahmed Samatar about the ugliness of this chapter of SSIA in Columbus. Laura said she was not consulted and both Hussein and Ahmed would have liked things to have happened differently. Remember AliNur’s rationale as to why “the organizers did not want to disturb that balance….. But according to the final program, here is the architecture of the panel that I was supposed to sit in: The Somali Crisis as Reported by the BBC Somali Service: Credible Source or Factional Partisan? AliNur, was the Chair, with Yusuf Garad Ahmed (BBC), Said Salah (poet and Playwright), and Ahmed Ismail Yusuf (University of Minnesota) as discussants. There are no two BBC representatives here. (Let us say that is lie number 1) A second media/BBC related panel, Media and Message: The Role of Somali Media in Conflict and Reconciliation” was featuring AliNur, chairman, with Georgi Kapchits., Yusuf Garad (BBC), Ahmed Gure (Hiiraanonline, a no-show-up), Ahmed Abdisalam (Horn Afrik Media) and Abdirahman Aynte, (Minnesota Monitor) (Here again the BBC is represented only by one person (lie number 2). What balance was observed in this panel? Interestingly enough, the last two participants, Ahmed Abdisalam and Abdirahman Aynte did not appear in the earlier draft of the program and were in fact added to the panel at the time they were shuffling cards and drawing scenarios to remove me from any of the media panels. It begs the question why so? Besides, does not it smell somewhat fishy to have all these local boys “deliberate” with Yusuf Garad? Was this only mishap, sloppy job, sheer incompetence, or group mentality ran a'mock, or perhaps all? Whatever it was, it runs smack into the culture of corruption and nepotism. Was it also clan loyalty too? I will leave that to the reader. Encounters with the Organizing Committee August 15: Said Shire arranges a ride for me to the Ohio State University, the venue of the event. At 8:30 PM, local time, at the University Plaza, I met one of the organizers (Kusow), who pulled me to the side and told me that “he has sadly nothing to do with the decision about the BBC.” His face, laden with shame, said, “Although I went along with the decision, I don’t condone putting such a high value on the requests of the BBC guy.” I attentively listened to Kusow, especially when he pleaded to “please forget everything.” I simply replied to him: “I could not comment, one way or another, since I have not read the committee’s e-mail.” Besides, now that I am in Columbus, taking time away from my family, work, plus spending over $1,000 for travel expenses, I was just not interested in cheap talk. A few minutes later, I ran into the czar of the conference, Abdinur himself, a man I would later on have several power-play encounters at the conference venue. His first sentence to me was: “waan wada hadlaynaa,” “we will talk” and take “xaalmrin” My simple response: “I need a simple and honest reason, the truth, why I was removed from the media/BBC panels.” As they say, “the naked truth is always better than the best dressed lie.” Without any truth forthcoming, and still Abdinur using the typical sinister Somali of “waan wada hadlaynaa,” “we will talk,” we parted company. August 18: At 9 A.M. My presentation on Somaliland started. The room given to us angered both sides to this hotly debated panel. We were taken aback by the tiny room given to us while panels of lower interest with practically insignificant attendance were given lecture halls. Thanks to individuals who helped direct and guide attendees, we had a room full of enthusiasts. And let me take this opportunity to state that my co-panelist, Mr. Iqbal, was a lovely and wonderful presenter. A few hours later, at an open luncheon at a gymnasium, AliNur, who was sitting at a table with Abdinur and Kusow, came to greet me. In the company of others, and mainly to observe a gathering etiquette, I temporarily suspended my deep-seated feelings; that he walked over to me, and gave me warm greetings, also somewhat disarmed me! Kusow joined us and right away tried to further discuss about my latest e-mail addressed to him and to Abdinur. After few unpleasant exchanges, we mutually decided to break up our brief encounter. We never got the chance to say a word or two about AliNur’s role in this whole affair. August 19: The day most people were leaving Columbus, Abdinur comes to where I was staying to pick up Georgi Kapchits and take him to the airport. While talking to a number of people, he requested that we exchange a couple of words. I agreed and we stepped out. He shook my hand and congratulated me for presenting a well done paper. I simply replied, “thank you.” He then started to talk about the fall-out, but I interrupted him and said “you mean the BBC fiasco?” Upon realizing that I still demand real reasons why such a sinister thing was done, he continued and shifted gears and quoted a verse from the “Quran!” which he translated to me as “let and leave everything to Allah.” I did not know until then that Islam was as pacifist religion as Christianity is. But I wondered what he was driving at! Is this guy real? Is Islam his tool to manipulate and tear up adversaries? Why on earth is he quoting “Quran,” the words of Allah, in vain and in justifying his non-Islamic deeds of conceit and deceit? It was a complete turn-off. In dealing with Abdinur and Said Shire (two members of the Organizing Committee), I had learned that Islam has its own duplicity – the utilitarian’s way of quoting “Quran” to justify deceitful and dishonest deeds as opposed to the simple and reticent life guided by honesty and hard work. I came to realize that Abdinur wanted to disarm me with verses from the book of Allah, the “Quran”, but I flatly said no to that. Wearing a poker face, I refused to give him any leeway, and we both realized that we were in a deadlock, hence time to recall “sagaal nin oo walaal ah sideena, oy sideedu wax siri sidiina, midkuna sirta ku garan sidayda….” and parted company. How Did We Get To This Point? I learned from several sources that Yusuf Garad had set certain conditions for his coming to the conference. To that end, he was negotiating through an Ohio-based interlocutor with a secretly formed faction, beyond the official Ohio Organizing Committee, including AliNur and Abdinur (Even Kusow did not know this behind-the-scene effort, despite that he went along with their decision at the last minute). Garad wanted to see first the names of all the panels he would be sitting on. When in effect he saw my name, he conditioned his coming to Columbus on my being removed from the panels, or else… What is uncharacteristic of the SSIA is a clique within the Organizing Committee to be such uneven handed and choose one cousin over another, lest we all are cousins! Closing Remarks: Well, I have no special conclusion! Let the facts speak for themselves. I personally registered my complaints to those SSIA active members (Professors Hussein Tanzania, Ahmed Samatar, and Said Samatar) and the Ohio State University’s members of the Organizing Committee (Laura and David Kirby of Ohio State University). They expressed shock and amazement to the details of the matter. Laura who was assisting the Organizing Committee completely distanced herself from such a decision of removing me from the media panels. AliNur did not behave like the professional that he would want me to consider him. He went for the lowest common denominator. As to Abdinur, I would want him to stop using Islam to cover up his corrupt personal and political deeds. Given my experience, it is time that the SSIA should have bylaws and ensure that no one repeats a similar fiasco that resulted in the unholy marriage between the BBC Somali Section and the Columbus (Abdinur-AliiNur) gang. The SSIA must distance itself from Columbus, Ohio, especially in light of recent troubling stories coming from there. Faisal A. Roble Email: fabroble@aol.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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