Did Somaliland President Fall Victim to Prank Calls?
Dalmar Kaahin
March 25, 2011
Whether it is the former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin conversing with the French President Nicolas Sarkozy impersonator or NATO commanders negotiating with a Taliban official imposter, leaders around the world often receive prank calls or deal with imposters. Additionally, Wikileaks´ publications of the massive classified documents not only embarrass many leaders but also force them to resign. And above all, powerful software programs that can imitate almost anyone´s voice may fool the average leader (and layman alike), but not the savvy software programmers. So then, are the recent phone interviews with allegedly Somaliland president and other Somaliland leaders authentic?
After listening to the audio clips, anyone who has the slightest clue about how today´s sophisticated voice changer software programs work or how to manipulate someone´s voice without using any complicated technology would take the alleged Somaliland President Ahmed Mohamed Mohamud Silanyo´s interview and others with a grain of salt. For one thing, it is inconceivable for the Somaliland president to discuss sensitive national affairs with an unknown individual, who after all isn´t even connected to the government. For another, because Mr. Silanyo´s pre-recorded speeches are widely available, simply using any of the voice changer array of software programs available in the market—any savvy programmer could easily program Mr. Silanyo´s voice into the database. And once you have Mr. Silanyo´s voice frequency and pitch as well as all other properties of his voice, the rest is child´s play. So, as a programmer myself, I am neither fooled by the phony interview, nor impressed with it.
On the flip side, what if the interview is authentic? Let´s give the critics´ views the benefit of the doubt, shall we? If the interview is true, it reveals two things. First: it shows Mr. Silanyo´s unwavering commitment to peace. Mr. Silanyo´s imposter emphasizes the need for peace. In fact, to generate Mr. Silanyo´s voice you don´t even need a high tech or a savvy programmer. All you have to do is get hold of a number of Mr. Silanyo´s pre-recorded speeches and patch them together to suit your needs. Indeed, such a clever, hilarious, and knee-slapping voice and video manipulation techniques that forces you to snicker, giggle, and chuckle is once applied to George Bush's State of the Union address.
Mr. Silanyo´s rumored interview, conducted by a henchman of the SSC (a pro-Al-Shabab) group, collecting his food stamps somewhere in the U.S., however, confirms President Silanyo´s position and that of Somaliland people in general. And that is, Somaliland won´t permit the Al-Shabab-affiliated SSC militants and their Somali-American and Somali-Canadian warlords to operate in Somaliland because if one clan is allowed to assemble its militias, others would want the something—regressing Somaliland to the lawless late ´80s or to the current Somalia´s carnage. The SSC group adamantly believes that the main perquisite for Somali unity is to reduce Somaliland into feuding clan enclaves.
Meanwhile, Somalilanders, overwhelmingly, rally behind Mr. Silanyo´s efforts to neutralize, peacefully, any villain threat to disintegrate Somaliland into clan fiefdoms. Somalilanders remain convinced that the SSC militias want to reset the clock and send two decades of hard-earned peace and stability in Somaliland down the drain. A big NO! NO!
The second thing that the alleged interview reveals: how paradoxical that the fake interview of Mr. Silanyo does more harm to the Al-Shabab bent violent SSC armed militias and its henchmen than good. What the fake interview reveals is what many have always suspected. That is, the most out spoken Garaad (a tribal chief from Sool province) against Somaliland, the loudest mouthpiece for Puntland and SSC, namely Garaad Saleban Garaad Mohammed, shockingly, now Somaliland delights him with a gift of money and a four-wheel drive vehicle while he also enjoys the financial rewards of the lucrative clan-war industry in his province. And he is not alone.
Neither the alleged interview of Mr. Silanyo, nor other Somaliland leaders´ hold water. The interviews are phony in every sense of the word. And clearly, the government should not dignify the phony interviews with a response. The truth is: the prank calls won´t change the situation on the ground, nor reveal anything that is considered a secret. The even starker truth is: the prank calls debunk the mystery surrounding why the Sool Garaads remain embroiled in politics and fail to perform their traditional duties. After all, money does lots of wonders, doesn´t it? (And as the Somali saying goes: "Ma anaan garan geela doofaarku laa yaya!"…or finally, it dawned on me why the situation appears the way it is.)
Dalmar Kaahin
dalmar_k@yahoo.com
After listening to the audio clips, anyone who has the slightest clue about how today´s sophisticated voice changer software programs work or how to manipulate someone´s voice without using any complicated technology would take the alleged Somaliland President Ahmed Mohamed Mohamud Silanyo´s interview and others with a grain of salt. For one thing, it is inconceivable for the Somaliland president to discuss sensitive national affairs with an unknown individual, who after all isn´t even connected to the government. For another, because Mr. Silanyo´s pre-recorded speeches are widely available, simply using any of the voice changer array of software programs available in the market—any savvy programmer could easily program Mr. Silanyo´s voice into the database. And once you have Mr. Silanyo´s voice frequency and pitch as well as all other properties of his voice, the rest is child´s play. So, as a programmer myself, I am neither fooled by the phony interview, nor impressed with it.
On the flip side, what if the interview is authentic? Let´s give the critics´ views the benefit of the doubt, shall we? If the interview is true, it reveals two things. First: it shows Mr. Silanyo´s unwavering commitment to peace. Mr. Silanyo´s imposter emphasizes the need for peace. In fact, to generate Mr. Silanyo´s voice you don´t even need a high tech or a savvy programmer. All you have to do is get hold of a number of Mr. Silanyo´s pre-recorded speeches and patch them together to suit your needs. Indeed, such a clever, hilarious, and knee-slapping voice and video manipulation techniques that forces you to snicker, giggle, and chuckle is once applied to George Bush's State of the Union address.
Mr. Silanyo´s rumored interview, conducted by a henchman of the SSC (a pro-Al-Shabab) group, collecting his food stamps somewhere in the U.S., however, confirms President Silanyo´s position and that of Somaliland people in general. And that is, Somaliland won´t permit the Al-Shabab-affiliated SSC militants and their Somali-American and Somali-Canadian warlords to operate in Somaliland because if one clan is allowed to assemble its militias, others would want the something—regressing Somaliland to the lawless late ´80s or to the current Somalia´s carnage. The SSC group adamantly believes that the main perquisite for Somali unity is to reduce Somaliland into feuding clan enclaves.
Meanwhile, Somalilanders, overwhelmingly, rally behind Mr. Silanyo´s efforts to neutralize, peacefully, any villain threat to disintegrate Somaliland into clan fiefdoms. Somalilanders remain convinced that the SSC militias want to reset the clock and send two decades of hard-earned peace and stability in Somaliland down the drain. A big NO! NO!
The second thing that the alleged interview reveals: how paradoxical that the fake interview of Mr. Silanyo does more harm to the Al-Shabab bent violent SSC armed militias and its henchmen than good. What the fake interview reveals is what many have always suspected. That is, the most out spoken Garaad (a tribal chief from Sool province) against Somaliland, the loudest mouthpiece for Puntland and SSC, namely Garaad Saleban Garaad Mohammed, shockingly, now Somaliland delights him with a gift of money and a four-wheel drive vehicle while he also enjoys the financial rewards of the lucrative clan-war industry in his province. And he is not alone.
Neither the alleged interview of Mr. Silanyo, nor other Somaliland leaders´ hold water. The interviews are phony in every sense of the word. And clearly, the government should not dignify the phony interviews with a response. The truth is: the prank calls won´t change the situation on the ground, nor reveal anything that is considered a secret. The even starker truth is: the prank calls debunk the mystery surrounding why the Sool Garaads remain embroiled in politics and fail to perform their traditional duties. After all, money does lots of wonders, doesn´t it? (And as the Somali saying goes: "Ma anaan garan geela doofaarku laa yaya!"…or finally, it dawned on me why the situation appears the way it is.)
Dalmar Kaahin
dalmar_k@yahoo.com
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