Tag: Edna Adan

17th Hargeisa International Book Fair

17th Hargeisa International Book Fair

On Friday July 20, 2024, in the presence of officials and delegates from throughout the globe, the 17th Hargeisa International Book Fair was formally inaugurated at the Hargeisa Cultural Center.

The Hargeisa Book Fair, which showcases a single nation each year and chooses a specific theme as its tagline each year, will take place over six days, from July 20 to July 25, with various programs.

“TOGETHERNESS” is the theme of the 17th Hargeisa Book Fair, which started at the Hargeisa Cultural Center in 2024. This year’s special guest country is the nation of Tunisia in North Africa. A sizable delegation from the featured nation attends the exhibition, attired in regalia representative of their nation’s history, traditions, and culture, which will be on show at the fair.

The national anthems of both nations as well as other tunes celebrating Somaliland’s and Tunisia’s customs and cultures opened the event. The Vice President of Somaliland, Abdirahman Abdillahi Ismail (Sailici), the Deputy Mayor, the Minister of Internal Affairs, and the Chairman of the UCID Party were among those present. There were many more people in attendance, including Hargeisa politicians, diplomats, academics, authors, poets, and innovators

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Dr. Jama Muse Jama, the chairman of the Hargeisa Cultural Center, began by outlining the significance of this year’s theme, “Togetherness,” and the number of delegates that attending the 17th Hargeisa Book Fair, coming from about 14 different nations.

At the 17th Hargeisa International Book Fair, the featured nation and delegates from other countries were greeted by the Deputy Mayor of the host city, Hargeisa.

The 17th show of the fair was formally launched by Somaliland’s Vice President, Md. Abdirahman Abdullahi Ismail Saylici (SAYLICI), who praised the Chairman of the Hargeisa Cultural Center and the significance of the International Book Fair to the country’s transition to statehood.

Mohamed Kahin Ahmed, Somaliland’s Minister of Interior and Chairman of the ruling Kulmiye Party, discussed the significance of the Hargeisa International Book Fair (HIBF) for the country and further emphasized the benefits that the whole community would reap from the chosen slogan for this year’s 17th Book Fair – “Togetherness”

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Somaliland’s traditional dance and culture on display during the 2024 Hargeisa International Book Fair

Addressing the audience at the fair, Dr. Edna Adan Ismail expressed her joy at being a part of the 17th anniversary of the Hargeisa Book Fair. Having been invited to the exhibition’s inauguration each year, she was there when it first began.

Speaking in a variety of languages, Dr. Edna Adan greeted everyone to this year’s exhibition and discussed the history of Somaliland as well as the value of collaboration and coordination.

Speaking during the exhibition’s inauguration, Eng. Faysal Ali Waraabe, the chairman of the opposition party UCID, highlighted the advantages of the Hargeisa International Book Fair for the country and society.

At the HIBF show, Ilyas Manek, the head of the British diplomatic office in Hargeisa, described the true meaning of the term “togetherness” and asserted that it is the only action and mindset that can provide a solution to the problems the globe is currently facing.

The Hargeisa International Book Fair, which runs through Thursday this week, is a cultural event that annually brings participants from over 20 nations to debate topics pertaining to books, literature, art displays, and panel discussions.

The Hargeisa Book Fair, organized jointly by the Hargeisa Cultural Center and the Redsea Cultural Foundation, was first initiated in Hargeisa in 2008, and is the largest book fair in the Horn of Africa.

Somaliland’s Rebounding from Ruins Reveals the Toxicity of Somalia’s Reliance on Aid Programs

Somaliland’s Rebounding from Ruins Reveals the Toxicity of Somalia’s Reliance on Aid Programs

Somalia is a shattered country associated with chaos, conflict and piracy, host to an Islamist terrorist group described by a senior US military figure last year as “the largest, wealthiest and most lethal al-Qaeda affiliate in the world”. It sits in the Horn of Africa, long tormented by despotism, famine and war. Yet it is home to a small region that developed into a self-governing beacon of democracy

Somaliland has long sought recognition as an independent state — a cause taken up this week by the former cabinet minister Sir Gavin Williamson with a ten-minute rule bill in parliament. The demand for self-determination by the former British protectorate is justified, given its differences with Somalia, although probably futile due to fears across the continent that altering post-colonial borders would uncork a tide of separatist tensions.

Yet Williamson’s bill turns the spotlight on a state that offers a case study in the toxicity of aid programs, despite spurious claims made by self-righteous charities and their patsy cheerleaders in parliament.

Somaliland enjoyed a fleeting five days of independence in 1960 before deciding to merge with a former Italian colony in the south and suffering badly in a hideous civil war. Afterwards it became a country in all but name, with its own currency, president, parliament and passports.

Denied international recognition and thus direct aid while subjected to an arms embargo, its citizens relied on internal negotiations to defuse tensions and disarm militias. It designed a system of government that fused western-style democracy with clan-based traditions. One presidential election left two candidates only 80 votes apart but was resolved peacefully.

 

 

Billions have been blown on doomed aid initiatives in the rest of Somalia. But when I visited this democratic oasis in the northern corner of that failed state 12 years ago, I repeatedly heard people express pride that their success was based on their own efforts rather than foreign handouts.

One minister, highly critical of the aid lobby that he saw as exploiting Africa’s struggles, said they benefited from having space to sort out their own problems. This is not rocket science: if regimes rely on outside donors, they have less need to respond to concerns of their citizens; aid can therefore fuel corruption and conflict.

I also met the indomitable Edna Adan Ismail, who retired from the World Health Organization and used her savings to set up a maternity hospital hailed as the best in Africa. She spoke movingly about relying on “people power” to rebuild the nation, arguing that they would have been trapped in a dependency culture if outsiders had given them cash to rebuild infrastructure and told them how to set up institutions. “Instead, through trial and error, we found what worked,” she told me.

Somaliland’s democracy was not perfect: there were problems over delayed elections, freedom of expression and women’s rights. But academics noted that the lack of international attention forced elites to develop a spirit of civic cohesion and bargain over resources rather than simply court donors. And even human rights groups admired the improbability of its achievements in such a troubled location.

Sadly, this story has taken a turn for the worse in recent years. First came the development experts with their talking shops. Then foreign cash, with nations such as Britain signing deals to “promote long-term stability”. Instead, Somaliland was jolted by communal tensions, lethal clashes, presidential elections were postponed and at least 150,000 people driven from homes. Elders in one region sought secession. This year a British-funded police force was implicated in killing civilians. Now there are claims that the destabilizing impact of a flurry of foreign money lies at the core of this unrest by distorting relationships, fostering a fight for resources and fueling repression.

No doubt the apostles of aid will continue to ignore the saga of Somaliland. Just as they ignore how Haiti — nicknamed the Republic of NGOs for the number of charities jostling to assist 11.5 million citizens — descended into dysfunctional hell despite being given almost £14 billion this century alone. And just as they ignore the lesson of western attempts to build a new society in Afghanistan based on vast flows of aid and arms, which inflamed corruption, intensified divisions and empowered a mafia state, thus assisting the Taliban’s return as dismayed citizens turned to its insurgency.

 

 

It is deluded neocolonialism to think we can use our cash to impose stability in conflict-ridden regions, let alone to create millions of jobs or spread democracy. Thankfully, British aid spending has been slashed, although what remains is largely wasted beyond some successful health interventions. When aid groups squeal about cuts, it is worth noting that the sector is growing so much around the world that just the rise in global development assistance last year was bigger than the £12.8 billion we spent. The sector has become such a money-spinner that not only does David Miliband, the former foreign secretary, pocket more than $1 million a year from one charity, the International Rescue Committee, but Britain even sprays money on nations with their own aid and space agencies. If we really want to help poorer parts of the planet, we should tackle the shameful laundering of stolen cash through our firms, institutions and tax havens. We should reform a costly and often racist visa system that does so much to deter African visitors, despite the continent’s rising global importance. We should do more to exploit our influence through arts, business, education, sport, the BBC World Service and the British Council. Above all, we should look hard at Somaliland and, while supporting its bid for independence, abandon our own arrogant salvation fantasies.

Author: Ian Birrel

Is a former deputy editor of the Independent and worked as a speechwriter for David Cameron during the 2010 election campaign. He is contributing editor of The Mail on Sunday and Daily Mail for foreign reporting and investigations. Weekly column in the ‘i’ paper.

BBC Africa Daily Caught up with Dr. Edna of Somaliland

BBC Africa Daily Caught up with Dr. Edna of Somaliland

Over the past six decades, Dr Edna Adan Ismail has been a nurse and midwife. She has spent her life fighting for maternal health care rights in Somaliland and campaigning against Female Genital Mutilation- a practice which involves the partial or total removal of genitalia. It leaves many women and girls with Continue reading “BBC Africa Daily Caught up with Dr. Edna of Somaliland”

$1.4M Templeton Prize Goes to Dr. Edna of Somaliland in 2023

$1.4M Templeton Prize Goes to Dr. Edna of Somaliland in 2023

Edna Adan Ismail, a nurse-midwife, hospital founder, and health care advocate who for decades has combated female circumcision and strived to improve women’s health care in East Africa, was named Tuesday as winner of the 2023 Templeton Prize, one of the world’s largest annual individual awards. Continue reading “$1.4M Templeton Prize Goes to Dr. Edna of Somaliland in 2023”

Dr. Edna Adan: Somaliland’s Legality & Legitimacy for Statehood

Dr. Edna Adan: Somaliland’s Legality & Legitimacy for Statehood

The essence of Edna’s speech to the Catalan National Assembly  in Spain was that the world seemed to have unfairly held Somaliland’s case for resuming its statehood and the unilateral divorce of its union with Somalia in 1991 to an unprecedented standard of rebirthing again as a new nation for more than 30 years rather than embracing its independence of 1960.

Continue reading “Dr. Edna Adan: Somaliland’s Legality & Legitimacy for Statehood”

Edna Sorts LA Conflict Rumors from Facts at the Euro Parliament

Edna Sorts LA Conflict Rumors from Facts at the Euro Parliament

Dr. Edna Adan Ismail was present while Somaliland was a British Protectorate, as well as throughout its independence and unification with Somalia. She is currently the president’s advisor on the country’s quest for recognition. Such occurrences are not a narrative for her, in contrast to the majority of Somalians and residents of Somaliland.

On International Women’s Day, she was recently invited to the European Parliament, where she spoke about many different elements of Somaliland.

Edna’s History Lesson on Somaliland Sovereignty

Edna’s History Lesson on Somaliland Sovereignty

Unlike majority countries in Africa, Somaliland has never been colonized but rather was a British Protectorate because of the protection treaty that the elders of Somaliland signed with colonial Great Britain in 1884. Continue reading “Edna’s History Lesson on Somaliland Sovereignty”

Somaliland: Edna Adan’s Influence Felt all across the World

Somaliland: Edna Adan's Influence Felt all across the World

A very special woman was in Salt Lake City over the weekend from a far away land.
She has brought about incredible change to her homeland of Somaliland – a small country located on the horn of Africa. Continue reading “Somaliland: Edna Adan’s Influence Felt all across the World”