In pictures: Women of Hargeisa

Photographer Alison Baskerville has recently returned from Hargeisa, in Somaliland. While there, she was struck by the women she met - from those working in the hospital, to others who have built their own businesses.

Edna Adan Ismail is known as the First Lady of Somalia and was a government minister when Somaliland declared independence in 1991 - a move that has not been internationally recognized. She went on to become Somaliland's foreign minister and then in 2002 founded the Edna Adan University Hospital, the only maternity teaching hospital in the territory. 
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Q & A: Somaliland’s Guurti Sparks a Crisis

The self-declared Republic of Somaliland – a de facto independent state formed from Somalia’s north-western regions – is often described as an island of stability in a sea of conflict. Much of the security enjoyed by its estimated 3.5 million people is attributed to a “hybrid” governance system marrying traditional authority with modern Western style democratic governance. But Somaliland’s main donors have expressed concern over recent developments that beg the question whether its mixed political arrangements are robust enough. CLAIRE ELDER & CEDRIC BARNES from the INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP’s Horn of Africa Project discuss why a decision by the so-called Guurti – the Upper House of Elders – worries Somaliland’s international partners and risks causing a dangerous political and clan polarization. Read Full Article

U.S. domestic surveillance

Islamophobia in the US

E-learning makes higher education a reality for students in Somaliland

Zuhur Yasin has never been to the US, but she holds a bachelor’s degree from an American university. Part of Yasin’s studies in Somaliland, a self-declared independent country in Somalia, were spent in a special classroom lined with rows of computers equipped with webcams and microphones.

The 29-year-old watched videos and took part in live virtual classes at Indiana University as part of her journalism program at the University of Hargeisa. “We had discussions and shared any challenges or questions,” she says.

The African Virtual University (AVU), an intergovernmental organization, connected Yasin with Indiana University. The AVU says it has used virtual learning to train 43,000 students since its creation in 1997. Last year, it announced 29 new distance learning centers like the one Yasmin used to take part in seminars nearly 8,000 miles away. Read Full Article

Happy 24th Year Birth Day Somaliland