FIRST CONFERENCE OF SOMALI WOMEN APPEALS TO ‘MOST POWERFUL CLANS IN THE COUNTRY’

More than 120 women coming from the various regions of the country and other countries that are home to several communities of the Somali Diaspora, have come together in Garowe, 'capital' of the semi-autonomous region of Puntland for what is the first conference "on the Role of Somali Women for Peace and Dialogue in the Country". The president of Puntland, Abdirahman Mohammed 'Farole', also took part at the opening of the conference; he was applauded by the audience which included Somalis residing in South Africa, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Rwanda, Sweden, Yemen, Canada and the USA. "I thank all of you for being here," said Farole, underlining the importance of the conference, the first of its kind in Somalia, affirming that Somali women have been wounded and abused as a result of the war more so than the men. "On behalf of Somali men, I would like to express my gratitude and my disappointment to Somali women, who have suffered more than anyone the horrors of the war that has been gripping the country since 1991," said the president, underlining that women have been "victimized, also, by a system, such as the clan, which demands that they be subjugated to the men folk". Farole has suggested, to the audience's approval, that Somali women "come together in a single clan, which would become the most powerful in Somalia". In the long years of civil war, "Somali women have had to manage roles and responsibilities in the family, as well as in social life, but they have never seen these efforts recognized, while men have collapsed into the abyss of impotence, abusing themselves with qat," added the president of the region – which has achieved a certain stability after having proclaimed itself independent from the rest of Somalia in 1991 - in reference to type of narcotic that is very popular in the country. "In the total indifference of the rest of the world, in Somalia war crimes continue to take place" observed Farole, exhorting the international community to create "as was done by Bosnia and other countries, an international tribunal, just so Somalis understand that they have not been forgotten".

Source: ReliefWeb.int