Thursday, March 31, 2011

VOA Somali-Service: Farhia Absie’s resignation letter due to harassment and discrimination

To: Somali Service, Africa Division, VOA, IBB and BBG top executives
Re: Resignation Letter
Date: Tuesday, January, 27, 2010

My name is Farhia M. Absie. I am a contractor for the Somali Service of Voice of America (VOA). I write this letter with heavy heart knowing that I have no choice but to officially give up on a job in which I love doing with all my heart. However, my boss, Mr. Abdirahman Yebarow Weheliye left me and other reporters before me no choice but to leave the Somali service of VOA. Not to do this at this time enables to diminish my credibility as Journalist and as a human being.

Mr. Weheliye’s Abusive Behavior

Mr. Weheliye is aggressive, and he continuously insults and demeans me as well as others at the service. He is unprofessional and the most incompetent boss I have ever worked for. He tries to make up for his short comings by putting others down. He is inferior to anyone who is not from his clan. This behavior has baffled me for the longest time knowing that he is responsible to lead a service that was supposed to be impartial to what’s happening in Somalia. A service that’s deeply needed by Somalis that hungry for fair and unbiased news and information. However, I just recently discovered the roots of his hostility towards me: I have made strong friendships with several of my coworkers (one was forced to resign few months ago) who Mr. Weheliye sees as enemy and people to be fought and resist against because of his clans political and historical grievances against them.

This behavior made the news room an uncomfortable battle zone because of Mr. Weheliye’s constant harassment of others he did not like due to their tribal affiliations. Indirectly, he tried to turn me against some of these people at the service that belonged to other tribes. These staff members that he wanted me to turn against were from the same tribe as my mother, and when I rejected this to his face, he took it as I siding with them and against him.
I reminded him that this is the United States of America and the Somali Service doesn’t belong to any particular clan. I told him that this was a news organization, and the mission of the U.S for this Service was to help deliver accurate news on the plight of the Horn of Africa. I warned Mr. Weheliye privately many times to disengage from his clannish hostility towards me and others. I told him that I don’t like the clan system that continues to destroy Somalia to this day to become an issue in our workplace in the United States of America.
It was at this time that Mr. Weheliye saw me as an enemy to be rid off as he has done to others before. But I resisted, and some of the employees including me begun to complain about being signaled out because of our friendships or tribal affiliations. Some have now left VOA because of this targeting, but I have decided to fight against his behavior which fueled his actions towards me even further.
I however, stood up to him many times letting him know that no matter how much he tries to demean me or demote my duties by eliminating my air time, the Somali people are not blind, deaf and dump. They know who the most talented broadcasters at the service are. It’s not something he can cover up with the nurturing and promoting of those that he thinks are not threat to him. Those that he knows owe him because they were hired unfairly and unjustly from the beginning.
The most incapable and incompetent people at the service are those from his tribe. Most of them are uneducated and have no natural talent; they know that they would have never got any other job that’s not in a factory if it wasn’t VOA. That’s why they take his abused.
Mr. Abdirahman Yabarow Weheliye him self is a fraud in many ways and he knows it. The reason why he can’t tolerate and gets intimidated by others and anyone else who is not like him is because the only job he has ever held for more than few years was driving a Taxi in Washington DC. Somali people know who he is and the fact that his broadcasting record is completely fabricated.
I do not prescribe to the whole tribal thinking, I consider myself Somali and a citizen of the world—and I am deeply disturbed by the cruel mismanagement and clannish behavior of Mr. Abdirahman Yebarow Weheliye and some of his newly arrived clan members at the service.
The reasons mentioned above and many others mention bellows are the reasons why my integrity will not allow me to remind with this Service. Therefore, I am here by resigning from VOA.
I understand that those above Mr. Yebarow have chosen to turn a blind eye and to file behind him no mater what. However, I am hopeful that those of you at the top will have the integrity to open your eyes and seek out the truth of why he is having problems with everyone who is not from his clan, but not anyone from his clan. It’s the Somali way of life. When it comes to someone from your clan member against someone else, its common to always filed and stand shoulder to shoulder with your clan member, right or wrong.
The Somali service has no Somali intellectuals that listen to, it’s a joke. And the way it’s going now, it only contributes to the fire in Somalia. And will no way help the message that the U.S wants to send or share with the Horn. Most people have no respect for the service because they quickly realized how corrupt it is and the fact that it feeds to the same propaganda agenda that is responsible for the demise of the southern Somalia.
My future is too bright for this service. I have dreams that Mr. Weheliye and his small minded friends alike cannot even imagine. That’s why I am moving on. I list the following for future reference if anyone is ever interested. I’ll also attach an invoice that Mr. Weheliye asked me to do last year for someone who was not at the time a member of the Somali service. This information has been forwarded to the members of the media and the office of the Inspector General. This work was never done by this person who is a close relative of Mr. Weheliye. He decided that he wanted to reimburse her the money in which she bought her flight ticket to America.
1- Abuse of federal Contract
2- Unfair hiring practices
3- Discrimination on the basis of Clan and retaliation
4- Miss use of the VOA Somali Service to attain and to fulfill certain agenda which clearly undermines the U.S policy towards Somalia and the goals of the Somali Service.
5- Fraud.
It won’t be long before all the others or at least most others that don’t belong to his tribe follow me and those that left before me. I Have faith that justice will prevail and the U.S tax payers will not continue to fund the very same practices that keep on fueling the conflict in the Horn of Africa.
I thank you for giving me the opportunity to be able to serve my deeply wounded people and fellow Somalis.
Sincerely,
Farhia M. Absie
DISCLAIMER: The letter does not express the views of the U.S. government-funded Voice of America.
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Keywords: Clan, discrimination, harassment, qabil, somali service, Tribe, VOA, weheliye, yebarow

New Form of Qat Takes Somaliland By Storm

Hargeisa

I was recently sent to Somaliland to do a brief cover of the inauguration of the new pirate prison here in Hargeisa that would assist the international community in fighting the scourge of the Red Sea, however, I quickly found myself intrigued by the many green stalls that lined the sides of the roads.
I had heard about qat (a narcotic leaf) before coming to Somaliland, and even tried it myself in Yemen but I was not prepared for what came next when I decided to do a small side-story on the epidemic in the country.
The abuse of qat has always been widespread in the tiny Defacto State of Somaliland from what I’m told, however, a new type of qat introduced just before the begining of the year is quickly taking anti-qat activists as well as the local qat ensthusiasts by storm.
Haleemo Farah who heads the local branch of Save The Adults (SA), an international NGO, has been very vocal in her opposition to this new brand of qat and sums up her feelings by stating “This must stop. The government must act rapidly. This is only adding to the high rate of psychosis and psychological disorders in this country. All because so one man can make millions of dollars per day in profits and the government can generate tax revenue on this poison.”
This new form of qad is not a stronger strain enhanced by a different cultivation technique, it is freshly delivered qat which as a result carries twice the normal dose of cathine and cathinone. This essentially provides twice the ‘high’ as normal qat does but boggles the mind is the cavalier method by which it is delivered to this poverty-stricken nation.
I had assumed the daily helicopter that flew in from the hills to the south-east belonged to the military of this self-declared republic, only to later discover that this daily flight just after the afternoon call to prayer carries not troops and soldiers, but a new form of qat called Helicopter.
Mohamed Adow, a local, states that “before Helicopter I used to chew either Fujis or Chibis because they provided the best high. I would sometimes start early in the morning but as you can see most of the qat stalls are empty at the moment because we are all eagerly awaiting the arrival of Helicopter.”
Mohamed is not making a grammatical error there, it takes the helicopter an hour and a half flight from Hawaday Ethiopia compared to the six hour land-journey that qat usually travels before reaching Hargeisa.
I tried to find out the people behind this new form of transportation for qat, at first I thought it was the government, only to find out that this new import method is conducted by a private businessman known only as Igal Sheydal. My various attempts at obtaining an interview with him went unanswered, but at the airport, I found that some of his staff were more than eager to provide me with more information and details on their operation.
I was informed that the helicopter is a Russian Mi-8 leased from an Ukrainian company operating out of a UAE FTZ.
A Somali crew member laughed when I asked if he was a part of the government and replied “most foreigners think that, so don’t feel bad. The only helicopter that used to fly over Somaliland airspace before we started to use them to import qat was the rare delegation from Djibouti that came once every 3 years. If you go to the neighbourhoods of the city you will see the children’s excitement when the helicopter flies overhead on its approach to the airport. They run and chase it and even after three months since our operation it is still a spectacle that even the older folks are intrigued by.”
Remembering how difficult it was to book a flight to Hargeisa, it frustrates me that there is a weekly helicopter flights for qat. On the second day after my arrival, when I saw a helicopter approaching the airport, I was intrigued by the fact that they are openly used to transport what is considered a Class A drug in most of the remaining countries in the world.
These friendly importers are no Colombian drug cartels, but Somalis like Haleemo Farah claim that “They are not even Somali and all of the money is leaving Somaliland through them. They might as well be selling harder grade drugs because it is having the exact same effect on the local population.”
I was lucky enough to be invited by a gentleman called Raggy Omar to watch the helicopter on it’s arrival to the international airport. It’s cleared to land in a small corner which is also occoupied by two old MIG craft from the Somali civil-war. I found it interesting that Russian hardware remained the number one choice for conducting questoinable activities.
The unloading and transport of Helicopter is serious business and done at the speed with which a Formula 1 team changes its tires. Before I was able to ask any questions, the helicopter had landed, unloaded it’s cargo into 7 waiting tinted station-wagons and we were off speeding to the city centre without going through customs.
On arriving at the Helicopter qat stalls there was a huge crowd waiting and cars lined up like a drive-through. The most interesting thing I noticed during all the hustle and bustle that ensued, is that in a country where almost all if not all of the population live below the poverty line, hundreds of people forking over 150,000 Somaliland Shilling which is approximately the equivalent of US $25 at today’s market rate for a bushel of Helicopter.
Joe Omar later informed me that “It’s mainly the people from the Diaspora who have been fueling this demand and it later caught on with the locals and now we sell out all of our Helicopter within minutes of it arriving at the stalls. We’re currently working on how to arrange another flight so that we can meet the heavy demand for Helicopter here and expand to other cities like Borama and Burao.”
In a country that has been shaken by poverty and is currently in the midst of a drought and possible famine, the same supply and demand principals that drive the economies of the West are at play here, and for one particular businessman, his ability to meet that demand in a new way has translated into a very lucrative business.
I went to go see Haleemo Farah later on that day who was disappointed that I had went to go meet with the importers of Helicopter. She invited me to join her for an anti-Helicopter Conference being held by Save the Adults in two days, but unfortunately my plane leaves tomorrow.
“Tell the people for us then. Make sure they all know.” She said in her usual feverous tone.
“Spread awareness and shame the government for accepting such a small tax revenue in return for a problem that costs Somaliland’s society as a whole ten-fold more.”
Stuck between the sincerity of her plea, and my admiration of the business ingenuity of the importers of Helicopter, I flew out the next day just before the days Helicopter had arrived.
Sloof Lirpa is a freelance journalist working with the Ikihara Press, based in Japan.
Somali-Interpreter: Mohamud-Aar (Mo Hussein)

Water, Beef and Bodies Contaminated Near Japanese Nuclear Plant

VOA East Asia and Pacific

VOA News March 31, 2011

Photo: Reuters

Members of the Japan Self-Defense Force carry the body of a victim found amid the rubble in Noribu, northern Japan, as pressure mounts to expand an evacuation zone around the crippled nuclear plant where radioactive iodine was detected in the groundwater beneath one of the reactors at levels 10,000 times above normal, March 31, 2011

Radiation leaking from Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant has been detected in nearby water, beef and even dead bodies left behind by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disasters.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company, which operates the plant, said radioactive iodine was detected in the groundwater beneath one of the reactors at levels 10,000 times above normal. Japan's Kyodo news agency said this is the first time radiation has been found in groundwater.

Kyodo also reports health officials for the first time have detected radioactive material in beef from Fukushima prefecture that is above the legal limit. Vegetables and milk from farms in the area also have been contaminated, prompting several governments to ban imports from the region.

Radioactive material has spread as far as the United States, where officials report finding very low amounts of radioactive material in milk from the west coast.

Elevated radiation levels also have been detected in sea water near the plant, and in areas as far as 40 kilometers away, prompting the government to consider expanding a 20-kilometer evacuation zone around the facility.

Authorities say they are unable to collect up to 1,000 dead bodies near the plant because of fears the corpses are too contaminated with radiation.

Police sources warn that if the families of the victims cremate the bodies, as is the tradition in Japan, it could release more radioactivity into the environment.

The confirmed death toll from the natural disasters is above 11,400, with more than 16,500 still missing.

Meantime, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for the world's nations to establish common nuclear safety standards to make sure there is never a repetition of the Japanese nuclear crisis.

Appearing alongside Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan in Tokyo Thursday, Sarkozy said there is no viable alternative to nuclear power at this time, but that improved safety standards must be negotiated by the end of this year.

Kan said his priority at the moment is to stabilize the situation at the nuclear plant, which has been spewing various forms of radiation since its cooling systems were knocked out.

Officials at Japan's nuclear safety agency said radiation in the latest sampling from the ocean near the Fukushima plant's discharge pipes was at 4,385 times the legal limit.

Expanding the evacuation zone to 30 kilometers would require moving another 136,000 people - adding to pressures on a government that already has almost 200,000 earthquake victims living in temporary shelters.

Operators of the plant reported some progress in pumping highly contaminated water out of the basements and adjacent utility tunnels at three of the plant's reactors. The water must be removed before workers can complete repairs to the pumps that run the plant's vital cooling systems.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.

Liver disease deaths 'higher among diabetics'

30 March 2011 Last updated at 11:09 GMT

Many people with diabetes must have regular injections of insulin

People with diabetes are 70% more likely to die from liver disease than those without the condition, according to new research.

It is already known that diabetes can increase the risk of some types of liver disease, with poor blood sugar control boosting the risk.
This can lead to scarring of the liver - also known as cirrhosis - and cancer.
In the study, Edinburgh researchers analysed the records of people aged 35 to 84 over a six-year period to 2007.
They compared 1,267 diabetes sufferers to 10,100 people without the condition, who all died of liver disease.
The results showed about one in four (24%) people with diabetes died of liver cancer, compared to one in ten (9%) of non-diabetics.
However, more people without diabetes died from alcoholic liver disease (63%) compared to those with diabetes (38%).

“Start Quote

Previous studies have found a link between diabetes and liver disease and this research adds to that knowledge”

End Quote Dr Iain Frame Diabetes UK

Diabetic patients are advised not to drink too much alcohol because of its potential impact on blood sugar levels and the risk of weight gain.

Dr Sarah Wild, of Edinburgh University, said: "Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease has become much more common recently, particularly among people with diabetes.
"The major risk factor for it is being overweight, which is also an important risk factor for Type 2 diabetes.
"Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease increases the risk of cirrhosis which in turn increases the risk of liver cancer.
"A healthy lifestyle can reduce the risk and prevention is particularly important because the options for treatment are limited."
The research is being presented at the Diabetes UK Annual Professional Conference, which ends on Friday.
Diabetes UK director of research, Dr Iain Frame, said: "Previous studies have found a link between diabetes and liver disease and this research adds to that knowledge.
"We now need further investigation into how diabetes affects the liver to find new methods of preventing this complication."

Ugandan Labour Exports

Exporting labour earned Uganda $500m a year, at its peak in 2009
Most of the workers sent abroad are men, only a small minority are women
A women's rights organisation, FIDA-U, has filed a court case against Uganda Veterans Development Ltd
An earlier attempt to sue the company failed when the lawyer pulled out

She waited until the family took an afternoon nap before going up to the roof of the house and stealing an abaya cloak from the washing line. When she got outside the gate of the house, she started running.

She was able to find a taxi driver who spoke English and was prepared to take her to the statue. Agnes had to negotiate her way through four checkpoints without documents.
She called Mr Tumwesigye en route and he risked his job when he appropriated a vehicle from the base and drove to get her - violating a strict requirement of his contract not to leave the base.
Previously, Mr Tumwesigye had approached a base chief, Lt Col Theodore Lockwood, about the women's predicament.
Col Lockwood said there was nothing the US Army could do to help the women. However, if they could somehow get to the base, he would allow them on to it.
Military protection Just hours after making this promise, he got a call to say that one of the women was in his office. Two days later Prossie and another woman arrived at the base by the same route.

“Start Quote

They are not our employees - we recruit them and they make a contract with the companies on the other side ”

End Quote Colonel Mudola Uganda Veterans Development Ltd

The officer sent an email to his superiors explaining the situation and expecting to be told the women should not be on the camp.

To his surprise, the e-mailed response read: "We will do everything we can to support you, we are going to provide temporary refuge for these women and they will be under the full protection and authority of the US Military."
The pair rescued a total of 14 Ugandan women before changes to their jobs and the eventual closure of the base closed the escape route for good.
None of those involved in this dramatic sequence of events in 2009 have spoken to the media before.
Several of the women were sick or severely traumatised. One woman who was raped was pregnant and there were fears she would commit suicide. Another was unable to speak or hear as a result of mental trauma and many required treatment for dehydration and exhaustion.
Help Col Lockwood was able to get them medical attention and even dental treatment at the base.
He spent $5,000 (£3,100) of his own money and another $2,500 collected from colleagues on clothes and other supplies for the women.

Uganda Veterans Development Ltd has strong links with the governing party

The International Organisation for Migration took them back to Uganda.
The company which recruited the women in Kampala, and continues to export labour, is Uganda Veterans Development Ltd.
Its managing director, Colonel Mudola, denied that the women were sold and said that his company has no responsibility for the women after they have been recruited.
"They are not our employees," he said. "We recruit them and they make a contract with the companies on the other side (in Iraq). We look after them and see that they are being treated well, but really the contract is between the agents and the girls."
At its peak in 2009, the trade in exporting labour is thought to have been Uganda's largest source of foreign currency.
Export licence Uganda Veterans' licence from the Ministry of Labour, allowing it to export labour, was revoked by the government after local media revealed the consequences.
However, in December last year it was renewed and the exports resumed.
When questioned, Labour Minister Gabriel Opio said: "We meet them at various political meetings and he (Col Mudola) is a member of the party hierarchy so you need to handle him so that he doesn't spoil the atmosphere when you're going for political meetings at the highest level."
The BBC made contact within the last fortnight with a Ugandan woman sent to Iraq by Uganda Veterans.
She said she was being held against her will, that she was very sick and had been raped and beaten.
Since the BBC interviewed her and Col Mudola, she was put on a plane and returned to Uganda. No explanation was given.
At least 100 of the Ugandan women who went to Iraq in 2009 remain unaccounted for, and Uganda Veterans does not know where they are.

Norovirus outbreak extends to Ysbyty Gwynedd

31 March 2011 Last updated at 15:52 GMT

Six wards at Wrexham Maelor Hospital have been affected by the norovirus outbreak

More hospitals have been affected by the norovirus outbreak across north Wales.

Health officials say wards are closed at four hospitals, including six at Bangor's Ysbyty Gwynedd and three at Llandudno Hospital.
Visiting will not be allowed on the affected wards to try to stop the outbreak spreading further.
Six wards are still affected at Wrexham Maelor and one at Mold Hospital in Flintshire.
Last week, the Maelor was closed to all visitors apart from relatives of seriously ill patients.
Admissions to the hospital and all outpatients departments continue to run normally.
Some wards at Chirk Hospital in Wrexham were also closed last week but these have since reopened.
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said a daily review is in place and the public will be informed when the restrictions are lifted.
The main symptoms of the norovirus infection are sudden nausea, stomach ache followed by severe "projectile" vomiting and / or diarrhoea.
Symptoms usually begin between 12 and 48 hours after a person becomes infected.
Hospital visitors are asked to check with the nurse in charge of a ward before visiting.
The wards affected at Wrexham Maelor are Evington, Erddig, Bedwen, ENT, Onnen, and Morris Ward.
The wards affected at Ysbyty Gwynedd are Glyder, Moelwyn, Aran, Glaslyn, Cynan and Aneuryn Ward.

SOMALI YOUTH FOR PEACE

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Thursday, March 31, 2011

VOA Somali-Service: Farhia Absie’s resignation letter due to harassment and discrimination

New Form of Qat Takes Somaliland By Storm

Water, Beef and Bodies Contaminated Near Japanese Nuclear Plant

VOA East Asia and Pacific

Photo: Reuters

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