Somalia: Slate magazine corrects story on Somali MP

Somalia: Slate magazine corrects story on Somali MP

London, September 27 (Somali Press Review)—The online magazine, Slate, has corrected a story on the former Somali warlord ( now a member of Somalia's Transitional Federal Parliament) Mohamed Qanyare Afrah. Somali Press Review published a feature article on the Slate magazine story in August under the headline “memory fails Qanyare over a recent Somali parliament brawl.”
Our story has come to the attention of the Slate magazine piece author, Emily Meehan, who, in an email to Somali Press Review, wrote: “Mr. Qanyare told me the correct story but my tape recorder wasn't on. Later someone else told me the other story and I confused the two, and misquoted Qanyare. As you know, Somali politics are very confusing and especially for a foreigner.”
Mr Qanyare was unintentionally misquoted as saying he remembered “ the Somalia parliament chair fight was over President Abdullahi Yusuf's decision to invite Ethiopian troops to overthrow the Islamic Courts Union in Mogadishu.”
The Slate story with a correction note has been republished. The “ article incorrectly summarized Mohamed Qanyare Afrah saying he was present at a parliamentary chair fight over the Somali president's decision to invite Ethiopian forces to combat an Islamist uprising in Somalia. Qanyare remembered the incident as is historically accurate: It was a manifestation of government divisions not relating to an Islamist uprising, which occurred only later,” the correction note at the bottom of the piece reads.
© Somali Press Review 2008