Somalia can be reborn as a country of progress and prosperity

24/02/2012

A Somali rancher herds cattle in Kismayo (Photo: G D Robinson for wikimedia)Last week, the eyes of the world were on Somalia. The London Conference on Somalia took place at Lancaster House on 23 February, attended by 55 delegates from Somalia and the international community. Somalia is emerging from the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. It is also the centre of a major ideological battle.
Somalia has been written off by Western powers as a 'failed state'. In an article, published in the Guardian at the eve of the conference, Ambassador Mohamed Sharif Mohamud, who is the Vice Chair of the Somali Initiative for Dialogue and Democracy (SIDD), argues that Somalia is not a 'failed state'. He presents a case that Somalia could be reborn as a country of progress and prosperity.