Panel explores “Agony of Somalia”

By T. Michael Sullivan

The seemingly intractable and ongoing turmoil in Somalia formed the basis of an April forum, “The Agony of Somalia,” on the campus of the University of Massachusetts Boston. Under the institutional sponsorship of UMass Boston and Bunker Hill Community College, the Joiner Center’s Paul Camacho organized the event with Somali students and members of the local Somali community.

Imam Abdullah T. Faaruuq, in his invocation, expressed a common humanity and identification with the East African people and noted: “We have as much power to do good as to do evil.”

In a panel format, students ranged over Somali history, culture, family and individual sufferings as well as personal journeys spawned by the civil conflict in their native land.

UMass Boston student Mohamed Ahmed initiated the panel with a description of the various regions of Somalia and an overview since the civil war in 1991. Safia Mohamed, also a UMass Boston student, recalled how she arrived with no friends or relatives in the United States in 1992 as part of the first wave of Somali immigrants. Ibrahim Iman, a graduate of Bunker Hill Community College and currently a student at UMass Boston, was a victim of the violence in Somalia. He was shot in the back as a teenager and was hospitalized for two years recovering.

The principal speaker, Bashir Khalif Sudi, said the Somali conflict was little covered by the media but eventually came into focus for the United States after the attacks of Sept. 11. A graduate of the University of Somalia, he came to this country on scholarship and attended the University of Pennsylvania. Providing the background and reasons for the conflict, he said: “These kinds of incidents are not heard by the American public.”