How Villa Somalia sponsored online trolls defeat genuine quest for justice

MOGADISHU, Somalia - For almost a decade now, social media has been used as an indispensable tool in the quest for social justice and good governance across the globe, a fact acknowledged both in advanced democracies and those still struggling with ghosts of imperialism and autocratic.

Besides that, the platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, are often used by those in power to issue important communique for expeditious information conveyance. A good example is US President Donald Trump, whose tweets serve official communication purposes for the White House.

Perhaps the most notable incidents in which social media has played major roles in the engineering social revolution is the infamous Arab Spring of 2011, which left governments in North Africa and the Middle East in shambles. Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, and Algeria were casualties.

But in Somalia, social media platforms are slowly being criminalized by the administration of President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, whose paranoia has now reached extreme heights. Although he has no ability to gag the users by shutting gadgets down, he resorts to hiring online gangsters to neutralize objective criticism.

For instance, Twitter was turned into a battlefield between regime apologists and those opposed to it last week when a careless police officer pulled a trigger while enforcing a curfew in Mogadishu. The Horn of Africa nation has enforced the curfew as a measure to curb COVID-19 infections.

What followed was unprecedented scenes which saw agitated protestors lighting bonfires, destroying Farmajo's giant posters and burning his effigy within the capital. Throughout the demonstrations, the protestors could be heard chanting "down with Farmajo" slogans.

Simultaneously, this triggered condemnation from Somalia's opposition leadership, which accused Villa Somalia of perpetuating impunity. The administration, former President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud added, was "paranoid" of its shortcomings.

"It has been repeatedly saying with a loud voice the era of Police state is history in Somalia. The time-proven democratic principle of the ballot rather than the bullet is what our people are eagerly waiting now," he noted.

But a remorseless Villa Somalia communication team, through accounts closely associated with it, engineered a social media counter-campaigns with perhaps the aim of shifting the narrative, thus diluting quest for justice.

The well-coordinated unscrupulous accounts fired back, shifting blame to journalists and opposition bigwigs as one of their draconian counter-reaction. The trolls have often targeted the two groups whenever the administration is under siege.

In civilized societies, these accounts would have been productive by pushing for accountability and justice for the slain civilians. But close monitoring shows that the accounts could be a massive investment by the regime to defend its own maladministration, through a tactical shift of blame.

"These accounts often, but not always, echo the same messages verbatim. The objective has long been to muzzle legitimate criticism of TheVillaSomalia and intended to smear and attack journalists, political opposition, and legitimate external critics of the gov’t," argues Adan Abdulle, a commentator on Somalia affairs.

During the fateful Friday and Saturday, the battle lasted several hours both in the streets of Mogadishu and social media, as the trolls refused to acknowledge lives lost, with some blaming civilians for "disobeying" the curfew as set by the government.

At some point, a furious Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said that the inaction by the administration "shows indifference for the painful tragedy of the young mother and the young boy who were busy on how to put a plate on the evening table".

But a few hours later, a top official from Villa Somalia, one Abdinur Mohamed, who is believed to be the financier of the accounts, would acknowledge the mistakes by the police, albeit covertly, deriving much of his content from the online gangsters.

"Last evening's case is regrettable and those officers involved will face the full force of the law. Let us abide by the set curfew restrictions. Our officers are warned to use alternative means for correction," he said in a tweet.

Journalists in Somalia have borne the brunt of FGS suppression in recent months, with top government officials unleashing against the press freedoms. Those targeted as labeled "radicals" by the administration, which has resorted to arbitrary arrests and detentions.

In extreme circumstances, a report by the Amnesty International dubbed "we live in perpetual fear" noted, dozens of reporters have since been killed or fled the country. Both Al-Shabaab and the government are named as the perpetrators.

Last week alone, two top journalists were arrested by the spy agency for reporting atrocities in Somalia. In a tweet, the spy agency also revealed intentions to charge VOA journalist Harun Maruf, accusing him of being a "danger" to national security.

The Somali government rejected the Amnesty report, which also detailed other instances of abuse of the freedom of the press, including beatings and the detention of journalists.

"Somalia... will continue the rule of law which includes media freedom," the ministry of information said in a statement, despite retribution from the international community and top politicians around the globe.

Despite the online trolls against those defending human rights, the government ceded to pressure, forcing the police boss to arrest the officer involved in shooting besides firing Bondhere police boss, who was entrusted to enforce the curfew in the region.

Somalia has so far registered almost 500 Coronavirus pandemic cases. Of this number, 26 have since died and only ten managed to recover. Police have since revised the dusk-to-dawn curfew from 7 pm to 8 pm, a move that would allow residents to vacate streets in time.

GAROWE ONLINE