In October, the Nairobi-based International Policy Group think-tank published a report linking Somalia’s Hormuud Telecom to terrorist attacks in Kenya.
In determining the authenticity of the report, two issues stand out — a critical look at accusations levelled against the firm and the sources cited. The two are important because the former examines credibility while the latter sheds light on evidence.
The think-tank cites Strategic Intelligence 11 times in the report. It quotes a report linking Hormuud Telecom to the Dusit D2 Complex attack in Nairobi on January16.
Security services arrested about 12 people, none of them a Hormuud Telecom employee.
Furthermore, information linking Hormuud to the Dusit raid has only been reported by the Strategic Intelligence website.
The think-tank says its report “builds on a careful review of diverse sources and interviews over the August-September period in the Horn of Africa with key players in Somalia”.
Unfortunately, in its purported two-month research, the think-tank saw it fit to interview only three anonymous people in Somalia!
The study only refers to three respondents in Somalia and none in Kenya, Ethiopia or Djibouti.
In linking Hormuud Telecom to attacks, the research quotes Mohammad Tawhidi, a self-styled Muslim cleric.
The report uses a 2019 article by Tawhidi in The Times of Israel, which claimed Hormuud Telecom “disrupted phone services during al-Shabaab raids against pro-Somali government forces”.
The article is quoted nine times in the report.
Tawhidi claims to be a Master's degree holder in Islamic Theology from Al-Mustafa International University.
According to Bronwyn Adcock of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the university refuted Tawhidi’s claims.
The report quotes a piece by Suna Times website: “At the behest of Hormuud, al-Shabaab has continued to target Safaricom base transmission stations on the border”.
Hormuud Telecom does not operate in Kenya and one wonders what business benefit it gets by attacking Safaricom stations.
From September 8 to November 2, the website published 36 articles on Somalia.
Thirty-three of these are on Hormuud Telecom’s “link to Shabaab”. The articles are a collection of baseless discussions, which take place in what Somalis call Fadhi Kudirir (fighting while sitting).
Since the collapse of the Somali state in 1991, there has emerged Somaliogists — pseudo Somali experts who comment on anything from the country’s soil to the type of stars in its skies.
ABDI NOOR MOHAMED, Executive Director, Odoros Centre, Mogadishu, Somalia
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