Somalia's Online Identity Crisis

Finding Somalia's government on the web can be confusing. There is no .so domain. www.somali-gov.info claims to be the "Official Federal Government Website for Somalia" but if you have been following developments in Somalia you will soon realize that the president and prime minister are no longer in power. The site for the new president, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, can be found at www.nationtv.org, not an obvious address for the official government. Then there is the website for al-Shabab, the organization that currently controls much of south-central Somalia. While this website, www.kataaib.net, has recently been taken off-line, al-Shabab, like its al-Qaeda affiliate, has a dynamic media arm with YouTube videos receiving thousands of hits. And not to be excluded is the Puntland government, www.puntlandgovt.com, and somaliland at www.somalilandgov.com. As the internationally recognized leader of Somalia, Sheikh Sharif has the major communications challenge of selling his government both internally and externally. The enormity of this political and peacemaking endeavor will require the most ambitious of plans.Internationally, Sheikh Sharif faces the challenge of having potential partners listen and support difficult decisions. He was, after all the same leader that was ousted by Ethiopia and the US in 2006 after seizing control of part of the country from the ineffective leadership of Abdullahi Yusuf. The United States saw Sheikh Sharif's Islamic Courts Union (ICU), a coalition of Sharia courts, as a radical Islamic organization with links to al- Qaeda. The historical nemesis of Somalia, Ethiopia, had its own concerns.This was a clear mistake. First, Sheikh Sharif is a Sufi Muslim and more moderate than much of al-Shabab, who are influenced by Wahhabi teachings. ..more..http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nicole-stremlau/somalias-online-identity_b_172345.html