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Book launch: the Mourning Tree, autobiography by Mohamed Barud Ali And  Commemoration of the students’ protest, Hargeysa for the release of UFFO members Saturday, 20 February 2010
From 3pm At Oxford House
Derbyshire Street, London, E2 6HG

Kayd Somali Arts and Culture in collaboration with redsea-online.com is proudly inviting you to the presentation of new book: ‘Weerane’ (The Mourning Tree), an autobiography by Mohamed Barud Ali. Join us to discuss this new autobiography with the author and also to commemorate the student protest of 20 February 1982, which erupted 28 years ago in Hargeysa demanding justice and the release of UFFO members. The event will take place on Saturday, 20 Feb. 2010 at 4pm at Oxford House, Derbyshire Street, E2 6GH .

This prison memoir will not only give first-hand information of the experience of the brutalities of Siyad Barre’s Somalia but also of the life of a nomad child who is brought to the city to live with his aunt because there was no work for him due to the fact that his father did not own any camels to be looked after. In the city while growing up, hunger was never far away. That motivated Mohamed to perform well at school which gave him the opportunity to go to the United Kingdom . After he earned his university degree, he went back to his home town, Hargeysa, where he met other young professionals like him. They decided to volunteer for their community, establishing what became to be known to the international community as the Hargeysa Self-Help Group and locally as UFFO. For their efforts to improve facilities at Hargeysa hospital, Mahamed and his colleagues were imprisoned and what followed were eight long and lonely years of solitary confinement, where the study of insects was the main entertainment of the day. The reasons why they were freed, while at the same time the rest of their community had been destroyed, were as strange and surprising as the reasons why they were jailed in the first place. There was no time in Mohamed’s life to get depressed or discouraged when he and his group were freed as the reconstruction of the country had to start immediately.

The other speakers are Jama Musse Jama, director of publisher, redsea-online.com; Martin Hill, the former director of Amnesty International’s Somalia desk and a researcher who was involved in the case;  Dr Mpalive Msiska, BBK, University of London; Mark Bradbury, the author of Becoming Somaliland; Adan Warsame Said, the author’s friend and fellow prisoner; and Said Jama Hussein, writer and Vice Chair of Somali-PEN. The session will be chaired by Dr Sacad Cali Shire.

Where were you on 20 February 1982?

In the second part of our event  we will be marking and commemorating the  student protest of 20 February 1982, which demanded justice and the release of UFFO members. This second panel will be chaired by Jama Musse Jama and we will hear from some of the people who took part in the protest such as Mohamed Baashe H Hassan and Abdi Ismail Mohamud. The central question for the panel will be ‘how can we encourage and motivate young people as citizens to take part in the development of their country, to promote human rights and to take inspiration from the bravery of those young people 28 years ago?’

Other participants on the panel will be Dr Mahamed-Rashied Sheikh, vice presidential candidate; Rashiid Sheikh Abdilaahi ‘Gadhwayne’,  author and researcher; Foosiya Yuusuf X. Aadan, Director of Raad International and community activist; Abdi Abdilahi  Jibreil, Chair of SSE; and others.

On this official Somaliland Youth Day, we will also be hearing from Aisha Luul,  who will recite some of her work.  We are also excited to welcome guests from Somaliland, including other former UFFO members and dignitaries, including Dr Mahamed Fadal, Eid Cali Salan, Omer Essa Awale, Ahmed  Abbas Ahmed, Judith Gardner, Cabdirahman Barwaaqo, Micheal Walls, Saeed Ahmed, Mahamed Daahir, Clrr Omar, Mayor of Tower Hamlets Clrr Abdul Mohamed, Xudaydi, Dararamle and more.

Mohamed Barud Ali is a civil rights activist, a hero to some, a prisoner of conscience under the brutal regime of Somalia; he lives in Hargeysa, with his wife and children and works on issues relating to human rights and civil liberties.

The Mourning Tree: an autobiography and a memoir of prison is the first of the ‘Rag & Dumar’ series, a selected list of biographical/autobiographical books, published and distributed by Ponte Invisibile Ed. (redsea-online.com). To order the book please visit redsea-online.com or email orders@redsea-online.com

For more information about the event call 07903712949, email ayan_mahamoud@kayd.org or visit www.kayd.org
We look forward to seeing you on 20 February.