Puntland

With the backdrop of Somali president Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed's speech to nearly 4,000 people at the University of Minnesota in September, three ministers from the government of the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in northeast Somalia arrived in Minnesota for a week in October to address local politicians and members of the Somali Diaspora about the state of Puntland and its relationship with the rest of Somalia. Several speakers, including Puntland State Ministers Asha Gelle Dirie, Ahmed Elmi Osman, and Dr. Abdi Hassan Jimaale, as well as several prominent academics, members of the UN, and members of the Minnesota and U.S. legislatures, spoke to more than a thousand people in meetings at the Minneapolis Ramada Plaza October 8-10. MORE »