US Restricts Visas for Somali Officials Accused of Undermining Democracy

WASHINGTON — 

The United States barred on Friday travel by Somali officials and other individuals to the United States, accusing them of “undermining the democratic process” in Somalia.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States imposed the visa ban after Somalia pushed back to March 15 parliamentary elections due to have been completed Friday.

“We are now imposing visa restrictions under this policy against a number of Somali officials and other individuals to promote accountability for their obstructionist actions,” Blinken said in a statement issued by the State Department.

No central government has held broad authority for 30 years in Somalia, which is caught in a lengthy election process repeatedly held up in a power struggle between President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed and Prime Minister Mohammed Hussein Roble.

The parliamentary election, which started in November, is an indirect process that involves clan elders picking the 275 members of the lower house, who then choose a new president on a date yet to be fixed.

Data from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs shows 4.3 million people in Somalia are affected by drought, with 271,000 displaced as a result.

The al Qaida-linked al Shabab group, which frequently carries out gun and bomb attacks in the capital, Mogadishu, and elsewhere in Somalia, has also been an impediment to the election.

In mid-February, a suicide bomber targeted a minibus full of election delegates, killing at least six people in Mogadishu.

The delegates were unharmed.

VOA to broadcast Sesame Street to Somali speakers – USAGM

VOA to broadcast Sesame Street to Somali speakers

January 20, 2022

Today Voice of America begins re-broadcasting Sesame Sheeko Sheeko, the Somali language radio edition of the children’s educational television series, Sesame Street. Under an agreement between VOA and Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street, Sesame Sheeko Sheeko will now reach audiences on VOA platforms with critical early education for young children and their families. Backed by research, the program addresses the specific needs of Somali-speaking children promoting pro-social behavior, mutual respect and understanding, and cognitive skills development.

The Sesame Sheeko Sheeko radio programs will be delivered weekly through existing VOA FM stations throughout Somalia and Djibouti, as well as stations in the Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya. This initiative underscores VOA’s continued commitment to refugee populations in Africa and elsewhere around the globe.

In 2020, VOA launched a new FM station (99.9 MHz) in Kakuma, Kenya, the site of one of the world’s oldest refugee camps. This FM frequency provides both refugees and the local host community with news, music, and educational content in English, Swahili, and Somali. VOA also launched a new FM station (106.7 MHz) for the Dadaab refugee complex near Kenya’s border with Somalia, offering local residents and refugees a mix of VOA English and Somali language content.

“This new licensing agreement is another example of VOA’s commitment to reaching at-risk and refugee populations in the regions where we broadcast,” said Acting VOA Director Yolanda Lόpez. “In many of these regions, VOA serves as a critical lifeline for individuals that don’t have access to other reliable media resources.”

VOA produces content in many languages spoken by forcibly displaced persons. Initiatives like the Sesame Workshop agreement, the transmitter projects, and radio distribution campaigns, as well as innovative techniques and partnerships to reach refugee populations, broaden the potential audience of existing VOA content to audiences with few other news and information options.

About VOA

Washington, D.C. — Voice of America reaches a global weekly audience of more than 311.8 million people in 47 languages. VOA programs are delivered on satellite, cable, shortwave, FM, medium wave, streaming audio and video and more than 2,350 media outlets worldwide. It is funded by the U.S. Congress through USAGM.