BBC World Service and Minnesota Public Radio Team Up to Bring Expat Somali Community's Views to Global Audiences

Jan 25, 2011

(St. Paul, Minn.)--January 24, 2011-- BBC World Service and Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) are teaming up to bring the voices of the American Somali community to African and global audiences. The initiative will be part of the BBC's special programming on Wednesday, January 26 - the 20th anniversary of the overthrow of military dictator, Siad Barre. Ravaged by war and anarchy, the country has struggled to govern itself effectively ever since.

To bring key issues that matter to Somalis to a global forum, the BBC's interactive programme for Africa - Africa, Have Your Say - will link up audiences in Africa with the Somali expat community in the UK and in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, home to America's largest Somali community.

At 10am, presenter of the special edition of Africa, Have Your Say, Alex Jakana, will lead the debate over Somalia's future, connecting an audience of young Somalis at a community centre in west London with their peers in Mogadishu. Alex will be joined by MPR presenter, Tom Crann, who will be seeking the opinions of young Somalis in a studio in St. Paul.

Alex and Tom will put the young people in touch with each other, asking them for their views on reconciliation and political progress, and how they relate to their 'home nation'. The BBC's Vera Kwakofi will bring in the views from listeners via text messages, calls and online social-networking channels. Alex Jakana says, "On this anniversary we are going to speak to young Somalis who have never known a national government. It will be fascinating to compare the viewpoints of youngsters who have grown up in the diaspora, but still very much consider themselves Somalis, and those who have lived all these years in their home-country."

The program will ask if any comparisons can be made between the lives of these youngsters. What can a young person in Somalia hope for today? And if they could run the country, how would they solve its problems?

MPR news director Chris Worthington adds, "This initiative is a wonderful opportunity for MPR and our audiences to connect directly with a growing portion of our Twin Cities community. It's also a powerful example of how the Twin Cities is becoming a bigger part of a small world."

At 7pm on Sunday, January 30, MPR will broadcast a special edition of the BBC World Service African news programme, Focus on Africa, which, according to its producer, Celeste Hicks, "will bring to life modern-day Somalia, helping the audience to hear real people's stories instead of the daily news diet of bombs and killings." The hour-long special edition will take a look back at Somalia's recent history, from the fall of Siad Barre to the failed attempts to set up a national federal government. It will ask if Siad Barre was the only leader capable of holding the country together, or the reason it fell apart. As the programme moves on to the present day, correspondent Damian Zane will look at how Somalia's economy functions without a central government, what happens to ransom money taken by pirates, and the importance of remittances from the Somali diaspora. Mary Harper will compare the rest of the country with Somaliland which seems to have a 'magic formula' - what can it teach the South?

Offering an insight into Al-Shabab, the militant Islamist group which controls most of the South of Somalia, Focus on Africa will speak to child soldiers who have been recruited to fight with the group, and ask who is really in control - is there a danger of al-Qaeda hijacking the movement? The program will also feature interviews with US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Jonnie Carson, and with Bethwell Kiplagat who was instrumental in setting up the current Transitional Federal Government of the Republic of Somalia.