Saturday, January 14, 2012

WE ARE SORRY — KDF



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The military yesterday issued a public apology for duping Kenyans that a picture showing a man being executed in Somalia was that of a Kenyan Al Shabaab recruit being stoned to death after a disagreement.
The photos, tweeted by military spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir were actually those of a 48-year-old Somali man, Mohamed Abukar Ibrahim, being stoned to death by another militant group, Hizbul al-Islam, for alleged adultery. The photos were taken by the Associated Press and were published in the UK newspaper, the Daily Mail on Dec. 15, 2009. The photos were famous because they had won a prize in the respected World Press Photo contest in 2010.
Yesterday, the Kenya Defence Forces issued a statement acknowledging the error and noted that the blunder should not be used to judge the military communication to Kenyans about the ongoing Operation Linda Inchi operation in Somalia. "We acknowledge the tweet upload error. Its reprint in our local press and regret the embarrassment caused across all our publics. We regard public information originating from us highly and this incident gives us an opportunity to improve on our public information disseminating mechanism," said Chirchir in the statement.
Admitting to the error, Chirchir pleaded with Kenyans not to regard the erroneous tweet as a reflection of the military's credibility especially on operational updates in the forum. "We regard public information originating from us highly and this incident gives us an opportunity to improve on our public information disseminating mechanism,"concluded Chirchir's statement which came even as the incident went viral online attracting criticism and condemnation.
The tweet sent by Chirchir on Wednesday was immediately dismissed by a young Somali American journalist Mukhtar Ibrahim who is based in Minnesotta who pointed out the photos were not only a Kenyan Al Shabaab recruit, were not taken in Kismayo this week as claimed by Chirchir and were actually taken somewhere near Mogadishu in totally different circumstances than those alleged by Chirchir. In his tweet Chirchir said: A Kenyan from Majengo, Nairobi was stonned to death in Kismayu yesterday. A twitpic link showed photographs of a man up to his neck in a hole with two men with whips standing over him.
Apparently,and according to Major Chirchir, the incident had taken place on Tuesday where the said Majengo Kenyan was whipped then stoned to death for apparently spying for the Kenyan forces. In successive tweets, Major Chirchir said. @MajorEChirchirMajor E. Chirchir Kenyan Al Shabaab whipped before being stoned to death in Kismayu.
The tweets themselves were retweeted across cyber Ibrahim, who describes himself as a self-employed freelance journalist, writer and editor and who apparently follows Major Chirchir on Twitter disputed the photos. "This photo is simply for propaganda purpose, Major. This guy was stoned in 2009, not in 2012," wrote Ibrahim.
Yesterday morning, the major finally broke his silence posting this: @MajorEChirchirMajor E. Chirchir#PicturePosting It is a fact that a Kenyan was executed in Kismayu, two more are likely to be executed on Friday afternoon. He went on to add this: @MajorEChirchirMajor E. Chirchir #PicturePosting I take responsibility for posting an old photo, but execution did happen on Tuesday. Friday execution likely.
Al Shabaab, in uncharacteristic benevolence posted on its HSMPress (Harakat Al-Shabaab Al Mujahideen) of the Kenyan forces that: “They seem unsophisticated, even in their propaganda campaign. A simple Google search would have saved them such an embarrassment.” Al Shabaab was busy tweeting to all and sundry how Major Chirchir should employ a different PR strategy or seek another job.
On Twitter, many Kenyans were angered by the spokesman’s actions. Major Chirchir did not respond on Twitter to a flood of questions about his use of the 2009 photos. But he later insisted that a Kenyan man was stoned to death in Kismayo on Tuesday by al-Shabab militants on accusations that he was spying for Kenya.
In response, Major Chirchir has used his Twitter account for a steady stream of victorious accounts from the battlefront, usually reporting heavy losses by al-Shabab. He sometimes responds directly to the al-Shabab spokesman on Twitter. This week, for example, he denied an al-Shabab tweet that had claimed the killing of six Kenyan troops, but he acknowledged that one Kenyan soldier had died. Major Chirchir was ridiculed last year for using Twitter to threaten a Kenyan attack on “loaded donkeys” at the Somali border.
Meanwhile, six people, including two APs, were on Wednesday night killed by Al Shabaab militiamen who attacked Gerille village, Wajir South District, seven kilometres from the border with Somalia. The 100-strong militiamen overpowered the police and took away guns, bullets and a vehicle. Three APs were injured in the fierce gun battle. "A District Officer, the area chief and one member of public are missing and believed to have been abducted by the bandits. The bandits also committed arson by burning several properties within the police post,"said police spokesman Eric Kiraithe.
He added that an aerial and ground search had been mounted to rescue those kidnapped as well as pursue the militiamen. However, Northeastern PC James Serian who visited the village said: “Contrary to reports that the militia had escaped with guns all the guns were in safe custody.” One of the injured APs who was shot in the neck has been airlifted to Nairobi while the other two were treated and are out of danger, the provincial police boss Leo Nyongesa said.

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