Drought, Humanitarian Crisis and Conflict in Somalia

[ojal...@mappi.helsinki.fi]

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DROUGHT, HUMANITARIAN CRISIS AND CONFLICT IN SOMALIA

Time: Wednesday April 18, 2012 at 12.30-17.00

Venue: Arppeanum, Auditorium, Snellmaninkatu 3, University of Helsinki

Organizers: Finnish Somalia Network and the Governance of
Transnational Islam Project, University of Helsinki

Registration: By April 10, 2012 at
https://elomake.helsinki.fi/lomakkeet/34184/lomake.html

Information: marja.ti...@helsinki.fi / 040-7474474

PROGRAMME

12.30-13.00 Registration

Chair: Dr. Marja Tiilikainen

13.00-13.20 Opening

Professor Tuula Sakaranaho, University of Helsinki

Mrs. Saido Mohamed, Finnish Somalia Network

Director, Ulla-Maija Finskas, Unit for Humanitarian Assistance, Ministry for

Foreign Affairs

13.20-14.05 Lower Shabelle Region – from Breadbasket to Famine

Abdi-Rashid Haji Nur, Country Director, Concern Worldwide (Nairobi)

14.05-14.20 Questions and answers

14.20-14.50 Coffee

Chair: Dr. Mulki Al-Sharmani

14.50-15.35 Famine Response and the Politics of Counter-Terrorism and
Islamic Mobilizations in Somalia

Ken Menkhaus, Professor, Davidson College (NC, USA)

15.35-15.50 Questions and answers

15.50-16.20 Commentary: Islamic NGOs, humanitarian aid and development

Abdalla Duh, PhD Candidate, University of Helsinki

16.20-17.00 Discussion and conclusion

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Mr. Abdi-Rashid Haji Nur has lived and worked in Somalia throughout
the civil war. He has been working with Concern Worldwide, a
Dublin-based non-governmental humanitarian organisation since May 1992
holding different positions. Currently, Abdi-Rashid is the Country
Director of Concern Worldwide responsible for the management of
Concern’s operations in Somalia/Somaliland which includes a
multi-sectoral development programme covering areas such as education,
livelihood security, water and sanitation, health and large scale
life-saving humanitarian interventions.

Dr. Ken Menkhaus is professor of Political Science at Davidson
College, where he has taught since 1991. He received his Ph.D. in
International Studies in 1989 from the University of South Carolina.
His subsequent specialization on the Horn of Africa has focused
primarily on development, conflict analysis, humanitarian response,
peace operations, state failure, state-building, diasporas, and
political Islam, involving both academic research and policy work. In
1993-94, he served as special political advisor in the UN Operation in
Somalia, and in 1994-95 was visiting civilian professor at the US Army
Peacekeeping Institute. He regularly serves as a consultant for the
UN, US government, non-governmental organizations, and policy research
institutes, and has provided expert testimony on five occasions before
Congressional subcommittees. Menkhaus is author of over fifty
articles, book chapters, and monographs, including Somalia: State
Collapse and the Threat of Terrorism (2004), “Governance without
Government in Somalia” in International Security (2007), and
“Stabilisation and Humanitarian Access in a Collapsed State: The
Somali Case” in Disasters (2010). In 2011 he co-authored a UN study of
the Somali diaspora’s role in relief and development in Somalia
entitled Cash and Compassion. He has been interviewed on BBC, CNN,
FOX, NPR’s “All Things Considered,” the Voice of America, and other
media on the crisis in Somalia. He is currently a visiting scholar at
the US Army Strategic Studies Institute for 2011-12, where is he
researching the role of African militaries in African politics.

PhD Candidate Abdalla Duh graduated from the faculty of Social
Sciences, University of Helsinki, where he studied Development
Studies, Sociology and earned Master of Social Sciences (M.Soc.Sc).
His research interests includetransnational Islamic NGOs’ Development
interventions, poverty reduction strategies, development cooperation,
Islam and socio-economic development. Abdalla worked as a University
lecturer from 2008-2010 at the Department of World Culture, University
of Helsinki. For over ten years, he served as a professional teacher
working with immigrant children in the city of Espoo, Finland.
Currently, he is a PhD candidate at the Department of Political and
Economic Studies, University of Helsinki. His PhD research project
focuses on transnational Islamic NGOs and Development: Conflict or
Cooperation? Cases: North Eastern Kenya and Puntland region of Somalia.

The seminar is supported by official development aid from the Ministry
for Foreign Affairs in Finland and by the Ministry of Education and
Culture.

...................................................................
Nina Maskulin
FM, Projektisihteeri, tohtorikoulutettava
Teologinen tiedekunta
Uskontotiede
PL 59 Unioninkatu 38 E
00014 Helsingin yliopisto
Puh. 09-191 24714, gsm.050 584 6540, fax. 09-191 23591
nina.m...@helsinki.fi

Nina Maskulin M.A., Project assistant, Doctoral student
Faculty of Theology
The Study of Religions
P.O. Box (Unioninkatu 38 E)
FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
Tel. +358 9 191 24714, mobile +358 50 584 6540, fax. +358 9 191 23591,
nina.m...@helsinki.fi