2011 and the regional Twitter wars

This is definitely my last piece for the year 2011, a year that some have referred to as the most eventful, thanks mainly to the events in the Arab world. The spark was Tunisia, thanks to a disgruntled fruit seller. In just months, the Tunisian dictator had moved from being a leader to an asylum seeker. This remains by far the only genuine revolution of what has come to be known as the Arab Spring. In Egypt, Mubarak left but his military cronies are still in place. In Bahrain, the Saudis came and spoilt the party. In Yemen, deals were struck that left a sour taste in many people’s mouths. In Syria, Pres. Assad continues to push on knowing well that those who did the Libyan job can’t be allowed another messy job. Here in East Africa, the main story has been the walk to work protests in Kampala and the way Kenyan Defence Forces joined the trenches to fight Al Shabaab just like the Ugandan and Burundian forces. A series of kidnappings and deaths by what were alleged to be Al Shabaab militants touched Kenya’s tourism honey pot leaving them few options but to take the war to the Somali militia group. By the time of writing this, what was initially supposed to be a shock and awe operation by the Kenyan forces was slowly turning into a peacekeeping effort after the Kenyan parliament agreed to the change in the mandate of their troops ostensibly because now their operations will be funded by AU/UN. The most interesting thing about the operation by the Kenyan forces in Somalia was the fact that the Kenya Defence Forces spokesman took to the micro blogging site, Twitter, to rally the Kenyan propaganda machine. Within a short time, Major Emmanuel Chirchir had amassed more than 12, 000 followers. The Major regularly posts updates on the war situation as well as morale boosting tweets on the reasons why Kenya was drawn into the war. Not to be out done, the Somali militant group Al Shabaab, also took the Twitter road and opened an account which currently has more than 5,000 followers so that they can also give their version of events on the battle field. Social media comes with a host of new terms created and used by those who use the platforms. Actually some of these words have made it into the main dictionaries used for reference as far as English is concerned. People on Twitter are referred to as tweeps and the messages they post are tweets. Any sort of hatred or heated arguments are referred to as tweefs. Now it is said that the real tweef of the year has been the one between the Kenyan Army spokesman and the Al Shabaab fellow managing their Twitter account. Away from the tweefs, the Minister of Health, Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, must be commended for using the platform every Monday in what she calls Minister Mondays to engage with the general public on health issues concerning Rwanda. Maybe with time, other Ministers will do the same. Tanzania did celebrate its 50th independence, and before that, I decided to make an effort to deduce the knowledge I have on Tanzania and Burundi as far as the East African Community is concerned, and for the past one month I have gradually expanded the list of people I follow on Twitter to include Tanzanians and Burundians. I now get to know most of what happens in these two countries on a more regular basis even without having to read the daily newspapers or the Google alerts on these two countries. I am hopeful that by 2012, my ear to the ground will truly be a regional one. I have also decided that sometime next year I will visit other East African countries and learn more about the people and places we are expected to integrate with. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. Email: ssenyonga@gmail.comBlog: www.ssenyonga.wordpress.comTwitter: @ssojo81