Det andet oversete Somalia: Somaliland – dansk bistand på vej?

Aalborg University Copenhagen, Global Refugee Studies, is convening the conference, where there will be a keynote presentation of the new Danish policy towards Somaliland and the perspectives for cooperation and development aid.

The conference will also look at the regional and international perspectives for peace and security.

Time: Wednesday 1. December between 9.30 and 16. 30 pm.

Aalborg University Copenhagen, Global Refugee Studies, is convening the conference, where there will be a keynote presentation of the new Danish policy towards Somaliland and the perspectives for cooperation and development aid.

The conference will also look at the regional and international perspectives for peace and security.

Time: Wednesday 1. December between 9.30 and 16. 30 pm.

Venue: Room 005, Aalborg University Copenhagen, Lautrupvang 2 B (nearest S-station Malmparken), 2750 Ballerup

At the conference a small lunch, tea and coffee will be served for those, who have registered at the following mail address: [email protected]

Registration for the conference should not be later than the 28th November 2010

There is no fee for participants.

Questions can be addressed to the following persons from the organisation commit-tee:
Mahad Farah Aden, [email protected] tel: 26122461
Søren Villadsen, [email protected] tel: 29663140
– Or can be directed at the conference secretary, Ms Nanna Maj Tommerup:
[email protected]

– Participation requires that you contact the secretary on email or phone. Special food requirements should also be mentioned to the secretary. Any meat served will have been treated according to halal principles.

PROGRAMME for the workshop on Somaliland – the situation, key issues and the way forward

Why this workshop?

Despite its 20 years of independence Somaliland has been forgotten and unrecognised. Somaliland was a separate British Protectorate with clearly delineated boundaries in June1960.

Of the eighteen African countries that became independent in 1960, Somali-land was the fourth. It was welcomed by thirty five nations including five United Nation permanent members.

Only after Somalia was granted independence in July 1960 did Somaliland initiate a Union with Somalia to form a greater Somali Republic. That union failed and has cost Somaliland profoundly.

The Republic of Somaliland has experienced great obstacles since reclaiming its inde-pendence in 1991. Since then Somaliland has not been recognised internationally and even UN programmes have covered the greater Somalia and Somaliland and its government has not been in the UN vocabulary.

Somaliland succeeded to combine the universal values of democracy with its rooted traditional way of dealing with crises and reconciliation. In this way, it developed all necessary institutions, laws including a Con-stitution, democratic elections and has with great success prevented attacks from desta-bilizing elements including terrorists from neighbouring countries.

There is now a new tendency in the international community towards having a dialogue between traditional donor countries and Somaliland. An interesting example is the high-level Danish visit to the newly elected President in Somaliland offering direct development cooperation and the following visit by the Danish Minister of Development to the President and Prime Minister.

The workshop will discuss these new developments, the successes and constraints and discuss the way forward seen from the Danish and international context.

Workshop programme:

09.30
Welcome: Associate professor Vibeke Andersson, Aalborg University
Introduction to the workshop and presentation of programme, Dr Soren Villadsen, workshop organiser
Room 005, Aalborg University Copenhagen, Lautrupvang 2B, 2750 Ballerup

09.45
Dr. Mohamed-Rashid Sh. Hassan, PhD, Vice-president Candidate and now the president’s special envoy for international relations and recognition. Somaliland: His-tory and context from British Protectorate to today’s Republic of Somaliland.

10.15
Jama Musse Jama, President, REDSEA-ONLINE Cultural Foundation, Italy: Somaliland – the role of the new generation in the new Somaliland perspective. Discussion

11.00
Coffee break

11.10
Søren Villadsen, PhD; Somaliland – the institutional, legal and the governance reforms: The road to constitutional democracy. Discussion

11.40
Mr. Anders Knudsen, Aalborg University and Danish Refugee Council, Refugees in and around Somaliland: Economic and political perspectives

12.10
Mr. Thomas Thomsen, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, New perspectives in the rela-tions between Denmark and Somaliland. Questions and comments

12.50
Lunch break

13.30
Osman Farah, PhD, Aalborg University, The search for Somali leadership and the potentials of Somaliland

14.00
Ms Nauja Kleist, PhD, Senior Researcher, DIIS, How Somali refugees engage in Somaliland

14.30
Somaliland, health and welfare: The problems for social and health services. Dr, Ms Fatuma Ali, Director of the MHIS Foundation. Discussion

15.10
Tea and coffee

15.20
Round-table discussion introduced by Mr. Abdirahman Abdillahi Jibril, UK, Chairman of Somaliland Societies in Europe: Relations between Europe and Somali-land and the role of Somaliland Diaspora: History and perspectives
What is the way forward? How to proceed with a wider approach?
Short comments by the above participants – What sort of information and communication is needed?

16.05
Summing-up and farewell coffee. Overall conclusions: Aalborg University