OOL – Judging Dr. Mohamed Abas with his own Words : Nuradin Jilani

The Somali political commentator Dr. Mohamed Abas has recently penned an article entitled “Jigjiga Has Shown Its Warm Hospitality to Mogadishu” published in several websites.

In the article, Dr. Abas writes about the recent choreographed visit to Jigjiga by a Somali parliamentary delegation led by the speaker of the Somali parliament, Mr. Mohamed Sh. Osman Jawaari, and expresses the good impression this visit had left on him.

From the outset, Dr. Abas’s intention is not to honesty relay what he considers as good news emanating from Ogaden in a balanced manner; he is a tendentious polemicist out to spruce up the image of the criminal syndicate that rules the Ogaden, namely Abdi Iley and his gang. Acting as if he was an excited government reporter covering the arrival in his country of a delegation from friendly nation, the good Dr. giddily goes on to entertain us with how well the guests were received and hosted in Jigjiga and magnifies the normal protocols of welcoming guests and presents it as if it was exceptional or extraordinary. Thus he presents the little girl who welcomed the delegation with flowers on their arrival; the Dhaanto band who performed for the guests; the gifts given to the delegation (the Macawiis & Bakoorad) and other non-newsworthy things such as the places they visited and so on as successes worth celebrating and explains it with great detail.