The Minneapolis-based Somali Institute for Peace and Justice, which organized the event, said about 300 people attended.
“In our homeland, politics is blended with ethnicity,” said Dr. Solomon Geshaw, a panelist who teaches sociology at the University of Minnesota-Morris. “We’ve to think in a grand way.”
That thinking must start from the community level, another panelist suggested.
“Diaspora communities have a unique opportunity to foster good relations between the two countries,” said Dr. Selameab Wold-Tsadik, a former U.N. consultant.
But for Dr. Ali Khalif Galaydh, a former prime minister of
The invasion came after peace talks between the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), which controlled—and pacified-- much of
Fearing for its safety, the TFG invited Ethiopians into the country. Only a week into the war, the once-powerful UIC retreated to the mighty Ethiopian tanks and fighter jets.
The
Ethiopians have begun to withdraw from
Which’s why Dr. Galaydh, who now teaches at the
“Somalis are engaged in a just war,” he said. “There shouldn’t be negotiations with occupiers.”
Pro-TFG Rally
On Friday, the
The long list of speakers included the Somali ambassador to the U.N., Dr. Elmi Duale and the Kenyan ambassador to the
At the peak of the event, the Somali Prime Minister, Ali Mohamed Ghedi, phoned in, energizing the audience that they can soon return home.
At this rally, Ethiopian forces in
It’s the latest sign of a one community, seemingly united to repair their countries’ long plight, but taking radically differing approaches to the solution.