On the 24 and 25 September 2013, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) held a public media conference in Mombasa, Kenya to discuss the role of the media and communications in peace and support operations. AMISOM, is an active, regional peacekeeping mission operated by the African Union with the approval of the United Nations. It was created by the African Union’s Peace and Security Council in 2007.
The conference organizers raised concern that the media on the continent appeared to have concentrated more on the war in Somalia but ignored the humanitarian efforts the mission was making which included the protection of civilians, provision of water, medicine and education. They said peace and security operations on the continent including AMISOM’s efforts, were not aggressively covered and the conference was a platform to find a strategy to do so.
Kenyan-based AMISOM’s Head of the Public Information Unit, Eloi Yao said the mission had a limited operational budget which was contributed by international partners. At the moment, only five African countries contributed troops to the mission, and Yao requested the media to spread the message that Somalia needed help.
Participants learned that the African Journalists’ Network for Peace and Security, NETPEACE, promotes peace through the media. It was established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 2011 as a result of crisis that happened on the continent earlier that year, such as the post election crisis in Ivory Coast, uprising in North Africa and the Libyan crisis.
Ethiopian-based Senior Communications Officer at the Africa Union’s Peace and Security Department, Marsden Momanyi said that the continental body endeavors to improve communications with various media practitioners. Hence, calling on media experts to tell the positive AU story, chronicling it’s significant achievements for the past fifty years.
Menesia is the current Vice-President of the Africa Network for Environmental Journalists (ANEJ) and is no new comer to the field. She is also Media Specialist, founding member of the Namibia Editors’ Forum, who headed the NBC’s News and Current Affairs (TV and Radio) for six years and boasts over 20 years of broadcasting. In Addition, Menesia did actual field reporting on the then OAU and now the AU and SADC summits conflicts and peace and security operations. She has witnessed and reported on the discussions of the peace and security question in Africa and beyond. “I have been reporting on the Congo-Kinshasa peace and security question referred to as the DRC talks which took place in Lusaka, Zambia. I had closely followed the actual fighting situation in Congo, including the shooting incident that claimed the life of the late DRC President, Laurent Desire Kabila whose funeral I attended. I covered the then Angolan Government-Unita peace and security challenge and reported on the discussions which included the late Dr Jonas Savimbi in Gabon. At the home front, I was one of the journalists that jetted into the then Caprivi Region, now Zambezi with the State leadership in the aftermath of the Caprivi Secessionism failed attempt,” She proudly recounts.
It was therefore easier to for her to communicate with fellow conference participants what peace and security operations meant in terms of information dissemination, not only as a journalist, but also as a media manager.
While the conference was referred to by many as a resounding success although its deliberations report will be finalized in due course, there were moments that needed courage from each participant. Starting three days after Kenya’s Westgate Mall Shooting incident, in which over sixty people died and over hundered-and-seventy injured, the conference took place against the backdrop of the aftermath of the shooting incident. Some hostages and victims were still reported to have been trapped in the mall as participants exchanged views on the importance of peace and security operations and how the media could further disseminate information about the Somali peace challenge. “The worse thing was the fact that the shooting was alleged to have been claimed by Al Shabaab, a reported Islamic Militant group from Somalia which allegedly demanded Kenya to withdraw from that country’s peace and security efforts, lead by AMISOM. “And mind you, the particular conference was organized by the same AMISOM, which meant that that gathering could attract the attention of Al Shabaab,” Menesia adds.
Although the conference took place in Mombasa, one hour’s flight from Nairobi where the actual Westgate Mall Shooting took place, resulting in the collapse of part of the three storey mall building, the mood of bravery, courage and uncertainty was overwhelming. At the beginning of the conference, participants were informed that about 70 journalists were expected to participate in that conference but many, especially from international broadcasters such as the BBC and CNN had to cancel their trip to Kenya as a result of the shooting. “Although we were assured of the tight security including at the hotel where we were staying, with armed law enforcement agencies especially in the evening, we were told to be vigilant, and report any suspicious movements to the hotel authority” she says.
When the conference was over, participants were told that AMISOM would not take responsibility of their security outside the hotel and those intending to sight-see Mombasa had to be careful and take care of themselves. Security was tight almost everywhere, the hotels, shopping malls and the airports. At one big mall in Mombasa, people had to go through three consecutive security check points, at the gate while in the vehicle, at the mall building entrance and at the shop entrance as well. Menesia narrates that, “at one point, I thought about Namibia’s pre-independence situation in the north, when vehicles and people had to be searched at all security check points and roads cleared for any risks before they could be used. “It was indeed the continental conference that was, where the media was joined by representatives from troops and police contributing countries working in the field of communication, press attaches from various embassies, communication experts from Somalia, Civil Society Organizations and officers from the African Union and AMISOM. Journalism at its best as I had to plough back my experience I accumulated over the years into the continental media peace and security operations strategy,” Menesia concludes.
The conference organizers raised concern that the media on the continent appeared to have concentrated more on the war in Somalia but ignored the humanitarian efforts the mission was making which included the protection of civilians, provision of water, medicine and education. They said peace and security operations on the continent including AMISOM’s efforts, were not aggressively covered and the conference was a platform to find a strategy to do so.
Kenyan-based AMISOM’s Head of the Public Information Unit, Eloi Yao said the mission had a limited operational budget which was contributed by international partners. At the moment, only five African countries contributed troops to the mission, and Yao requested the media to spread the message that Somalia needed help.
Participants learned that the African Journalists’ Network for Peace and Security, NETPEACE, promotes peace through the media. It was established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 2011 as a result of crisis that happened on the continent earlier that year, such as the post election crisis in Ivory Coast, uprising in North Africa and the Libyan crisis.
Ethiopian-based Senior Communications Officer at the Africa Union’s Peace and Security Department, Marsden Momanyi said that the continental body endeavors to improve communications with various media practitioners. Hence, calling on media experts to tell the positive AU story, chronicling it’s significant achievements for the past fifty years.
Menesia is the current Vice-President of the Africa Network for Environmental Journalists (ANEJ) and is no new comer to the field. She is also Media Specialist, founding member of the Namibia Editors’ Forum, who headed the NBC’s News and Current Affairs (TV and Radio) for six years and boasts over 20 years of broadcasting. In Addition, Menesia did actual field reporting on the then OAU and now the AU and SADC summits conflicts and peace and security operations. She has witnessed and reported on the discussions of the peace and security question in Africa and beyond. “I have been reporting on the Congo-Kinshasa peace and security question referred to as the DRC talks which took place in Lusaka, Zambia. I had closely followed the actual fighting situation in Congo, including the shooting incident that claimed the life of the late DRC President, Laurent Desire Kabila whose funeral I attended. I covered the then Angolan Government-Unita peace and security challenge and reported on the discussions which included the late Dr Jonas Savimbi in Gabon. At the home front, I was one of the journalists that jetted into the then Caprivi Region, now Zambezi with the State leadership in the aftermath of the Caprivi Secessionism failed attempt,” She proudly recounts.
It was therefore easier to for her to communicate with fellow conference participants what peace and security operations meant in terms of information dissemination, not only as a journalist, but also as a media manager.
While the conference was referred to by many as a resounding success although its deliberations report will be finalized in due course, there were moments that needed courage from each participant. Starting three days after Kenya’s Westgate Mall Shooting incident, in which over sixty people died and over hundered-and-seventy injured, the conference took place against the backdrop of the aftermath of the shooting incident. Some hostages and victims were still reported to have been trapped in the mall as participants exchanged views on the importance of peace and security operations and how the media could further disseminate information about the Somali peace challenge. “The worse thing was the fact that the shooting was alleged to have been claimed by Al Shabaab, a reported Islamic Militant group from Somalia which allegedly demanded Kenya to withdraw from that country’s peace and security efforts, lead by AMISOM. “And mind you, the particular conference was organized by the same AMISOM, which meant that that gathering could attract the attention of Al Shabaab,” Menesia adds.
Although the conference took place in Mombasa, one hour’s flight from Nairobi where the actual Westgate Mall Shooting took place, resulting in the collapse of part of the three storey mall building, the mood of bravery, courage and uncertainty was overwhelming. At the beginning of the conference, participants were informed that about 70 journalists were expected to participate in that conference but many, especially from international broadcasters such as the BBC and CNN had to cancel their trip to Kenya as a result of the shooting. “Although we were assured of the tight security including at the hotel where we were staying, with armed law enforcement agencies especially in the evening, we were told to be vigilant, and report any suspicious movements to the hotel authority” she says.
When the conference was over, participants were told that AMISOM would not take responsibility of their security outside the hotel and those intending to sight-see Mombasa had to be careful and take care of themselves. Security was tight almost everywhere, the hotels, shopping malls and the airports. At one big mall in Mombasa, people had to go through three consecutive security check points, at the gate while in the vehicle, at the mall building entrance and at the shop entrance as well. Menesia narrates that, “at one point, I thought about Namibia’s pre-independence situation in the north, when vehicles and people had to be searched at all security check points and roads cleared for any risks before they could be used. “It was indeed the continental conference that was, where the media was joined by representatives from troops and police contributing countries working in the field of communication, press attaches from various embassies, communication experts from Somalia, Civil Society Organizations and officers from the African Union and AMISOM. Journalism at its best as I had to plough back my experience I accumulated over the years into the continental media peace and security operations strategy,” Menesia concludes.
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