MOGADISHU (Mareeg)—Some Somali people in Mogadishu and government officials have accused al Jazeera television based in Doha, Qatar of inciting the violence in Somalia, broadcasting ideas wrecking havoc in the country.

The Television is accused of broadcasting the propaganda of the insurgent rebels in Somalia, fighting against the internationally recognized government of Somalia and the African Union peacekeepers in Mogadishu.

“Al Jazeera listed Somali president Sheik Sharif Sheik in the most ten famous leaders in the world, when he was the leader of the opposition, but when he was elected as president it started to make propaganda for the rebels,” said Mohamed Omar Dalha, the deputy speaker of the Somali parliament.

Dalha said that al Jazeera channel was not reporting balanced news from Somalia and he could not understand the interest of the TV in the continuing Somali problems.

Speaking to Somali journalists in Nairobi, he encouraged them to work for the peace in Somalia.

Some Somali people in Mogadishu said they were surprised about how Al Jazeera reports the fighting in Somalia.

“If the insurgents launch small attack against the Somali government and the African Union troops, Al jazeera makes it big news,” said Hassan Farah, a Somali elder in Mogadishu.

The television has not reported as big news the insurgent infighting in Kismayo which killed at least 40 people in the city in one day.

The Somali government banned al Jazeera office in Somalia in 2007 when the Ethiopian troops invaded the country, but the office has been reopened in Mogadishu when Sheik Sharif was elected as president.

The office of the TV is in the stronghold insurgent area in the capital, where it is difficult for the normal journalists to report from exactly what is happening in that area.

Mareeg Online