The president of Somalia, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, held a dialogue Wednesday with the media, central Ohio leaders and members of the local Somali community at Ohio State’s Longaberger Alumni House. He encouraged the U.S. to bring peace to Somalia and offered his views on higher education.
After attending the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City and visiting Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, Columbus was the final stop on Ahmed’s tour of the U.S.
Ahmed acknowledged many of Somalia’s problems, including civil war, poverty and drought. The nation has recently garnered negative publicity for its problems with piracy, which Ahmed condemned.
Piracy “has given Somalia a bad name,” he said.
He also mentioned the threat of international terrorist organizations, accusing them of “taking advantage of the situation in Somalia.”
He also addressed the importance of higher education. In his speech, he thanked OSU and called on the university to “help resuscitate the Somali community.” He said he wants to recruit educated and experienced Somalis to return to Somalia, one of the reasons for his visit to the U.S.
Ahmed praised the U.S. government and called for increased cooperation between the two nations.
“We believe that if the Somali government, the United States government and the people of the United States and Somalia cooperate, we can bring stability to Somalia,” he said.
He said that the U.S. would play an instrumental role in bringing peace to the embattled region. He complimented the Obama administration’s policy and general attitude toward Somalia and East Africa, saying that his meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “was an indication of a level of interest in East Africa.”
Columbus is a vital stop for Ahmed because of its high Somali population. The city of Columbus has a population of between 20,000 to 40,000 Somalis, making it the second-highest concentration of Somalis in the U.S. behind Minneapolis. Constant conflict has prompted thousands of Somalis to migrate to neighboring countries in Africa and to Europe and America.
U.N. Reports estimate that the conflict in Somalia has displaced nearly 20,000 people from their homes in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, and 1 million people from their homes nationwide. In recent years, drought has plagued Somalia, causing the Somali people to be increasingly reliant on food aid.
Somalia, located in the Horn of Africa, is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, the Indian Ocean to the east, Kenya to the Southwest and Djibouti to the northwest. It is bordered by the Gulf of Aden with Yemen to the north.
