The never-been-journalist media pirate, Dahir Alasaw, has embarked on a dangerous tack to cleave into Somaliland peace and stability in a bid to bamboozle Holland and the Breda Court, where a case of his is being heard, on non-existent claim to investigative journalism.
Mr. Alasaw had for some time now been crowning himself as the ‘number investigative journalist’ and the ‘Investigative journalist of the year’, using young and gullible victims of his notorious blackmail tactics.
Strangely enough, most of the kids he uses these days hail from the Republic of Somaliland. Ninety-nine per cent of these budding, misguided ‘journalists’ come from a single clan.
The strategy he has of late exploited is to pit Somaliland clans against one another – praising some to sky high, and shamefully lying about, insulting and framing others on deeds and words that have nothing to do with the noble vocation of journalism.
The infamous blackmailer had previously used Dhulbahante and Samaroon clans members for his own ends, shedding crocodile tears in functions that the so-called Khatumo and Awdal State Diaspora puppeteers held within the safety of their host countries in far away Europe or the US. That worked for him for a while until he was discovered for the fraud he was. Dhulbahante clan members, for example, held a press conference in Buuhoodle wondering why a person who belonged to neither nor to Somaliland was pretending to champion cases that only existed in his warped, sick imagination and had no relation whatsoever to reality. Why, they asked themselves and the world, was this character attempting to use them to further his grotesque claims and accusations of victims of his nefarious attention.
The man has now found a soft spot with this impressionable group. Through his henchmen and lassoed victims of his archives, he has gathered ‘words of support’ from characters in Erigavo and Burao.
In one YouTube video, he himself posts it on You Tube in this title:
In the same video, one could easily put together what the respondents were asked to comment on. It is very obvious from all of them that they were led on to believe that (a) Dahair Alasaw was a Somalilander; (b) that he was being persecuted by the government of president Siilaanyo and business people; (c) that the man was being ostracized for being a ‘top journalist’ and for reporting on themes and areas that the Somaliland government resented.
The first man on above video, mentions the name of Dahabshiil and the government of Somaliland on the same breath, betraying what he was told to say about the two by the interviewer.
What Alasaw does not seem to have grasped is that no number of rounded up kids can shield the blackmailer from the wrath of a just law.
The last respondent (above), for instance, directly appeals to President Siilaanyo and the government of Somaliland to ‘leave this Somalilander journalist alone’.
The Burao video is almost a replica, a copy of the same coached lines as that of Erigavo. Respondents allude to forces in authority adversely pursuing Mr. Alasaw for ‘being a good, impartial, responsible journalist’ – everything that, in fact, he is not. It singles out young people who are not sure of who the person they are talking about is, who are of the same ethnic background and one or two older gentlemen who appear not to have fully understood on for what purposes their clips were to be used.
Dahir Alasaw has in the past attempted to smudge the good name of reputable by-names in the Somali society: companies such as Dahabshiil and Daallo, media giants such as Jamal Osman and Yabarow, musicians, politicians and almost everyone who did not meet his demands – one way or the other.
Butting head on into Somaliland politics, this notorious character – the worst possible smear on Somali media – openly promotes, pointedly, one of the national opposition parties stamping clan marks all over it. This, by itself, shows how unlettered he is in politics – if he is not doing it intentionally to discredit it for good.
Alasaw is doing nothing but disgrace to the clans or parties or individuals in Somaliland and elsewhere that he asks to tow his sick lines on false pretenses.
The man’s history: insecurity born of the stigma associated with his illegitimacy, the days as a henchman of Aideed and his son as a checkpoint killer in Mogadishu, his undercover involvement with Al Shabab that, if it wanted to kill him, could have done so a thousand times over, his frequent visits to Uganda to (a) touch base with his true masters, and (b) replenish his blackmail coffer by becoming hyperactive in the pursuit of more ‘cull-ible’ victims.
The ex-checkpoint robber, killer of Mogadishu in the early 90s, has somehow tricked Holland into believing that he is a hunted fugitive of Al-Shabaab’s assassin squad – a soft spot of trusting, western countries. Some of the tactics he use to convince European security agencies is to film characters, whose physical features are buried voluminous robes and veils, who ‘threaten’ him on film pretending they are Al-shabaab. If said security agencies used an iota of their skill, know-how and networks within their power, it wouldn’t have taken a minute to nail him to the gallows for a million and one charges, including ‘concocting’ evidence and ‘contempt’ of the power of the law.
It is more than evident that the man is cornered and that his nefarious activities have already caught up with him. Next stop: a Dutch jail.
Amran I Aideed
Amran.aideed@yahoo.com
