Somali PEN News

 THE OUTCOME OF THE 2^ND SESSION OF THE SOMALI PEN: 

The 2^nd Session of the Somali-PEN was held on 24 December 2004, and January, 20 and 26, 2005 in London and Djibouti. The agenda of the Session concentrated generally on two themes: report of the performances of the organization since the 1^st Session; and its plans for 2005. Beginning with the first item, we will summarize the report that the president of the Somali PEN, Maxamed Daahir Afrax, submitted to the 2^nd Session of the organization on what has been achieved during the period of the report, what could not have been achieved, the reasons of the difficulties faced and some suggestions as to how to overcome them. 

I.                   The report was two parts: 

Performances of the first period: 

1. Equipping and opening the office of the Somali PEN in Djibouti.
2. Collecting, sorting and storing the outcome of the Congress of the organization in Djibouti in 2003; these have been kept in audio and video tapes, in printed documents, in electronic files as well as in the internet.
3. Re-activating the website of the Somali PEN.
4. Establishing the different braches of the organization.
5. Preparing the Work Plan of the organization.
6. Establishing working relationship and cooperation with international PEN.
7. Preparing and distributing appeals to release journalists who are members of the Somali PEN that had been imprisoned in Somaliland and Puntland. The journalists have been since released.

Performances of the second period: 

1. Organized several seminars, various literary meetings, and launched new books in London, Mogadishu, Djibouti and in Sweden.   
2. Literary competition held on March 2004 in Mogadishu.
3. Establishing the Sweden branch of Somali PEN and organizing public meetings such as the Somali Literature Day held in Sweden.
4. Activities carried out in cooperation with PEN international, African Centres Network, Radio and Television of Djibouti (RTD), ADAC Institute, and Daadihiye organization.
5. Said Jama Hussein, the vice-president of Somali PEN, had participated in the 70^th Congress of the International PEN that was held in Toromso, Norway, on September 2004.

II.                The Work Plan of the Somali PEN for 2005 and the Decision of the 2^nd Session:

The central pillar of the Work Plan is the written proposal submitted the president and that has been approved by the executive committee. The slogan of the project is “Towards Creative Writing and Culture of Reading in the Mother Tongue”. This will consist of series of activities that will be carried out at the different branches of Somali PEN such as Djibouti, Somalia, UK, Sweden, etc. These activities are intended to encourage writing in the Somali language as well as encouraging the Somali people into developing a culture that promotes reading of love of books. These will be achieved through literary meetings, seminars and symposiums, promotion of books, training the talented youth in the art of creative writing in the mother tongue.

 Other resolutions of the executive committee at the 2^nd Session of the Somali PEN included the following: 

1. Creation of the Newsletter of the organization.
2. Strengthening and enhancing the website: Somalipen.org
3. Improving and strengthening the headquarter office of Somali PEN in Djibouti.
4. Aden Hassan Aden who is a member of the creative community of Somali PEN has been appointed a coordinator at the headquarter office.
5. Strengthening and expanding the work of the Djibouti branch.
6. Creating new branches in Ethiopia and North America.
7. Convening the 3^rd Congress (put the approx. date) in this year.

Statement by P.E.N on Violations against the Freedom of Expression

On April 2005, PEN has issued a statement calling the Somali political leaders to stop the continuous violations against the journalists and the creative community in pursuing their rights of freedom of expression. The statement was written like this: 

·        The Somali-speaking PEN,  a member of the International PEN;

·        WORRIED of the increasing violations including threats, intimidations, imprisonment and other such oppressive tactics against the freedom of expression of the journalists and the creative community in Somalia;

·        FOLLOWING CLOSELY the tremendous quantitative and qualitative progress made by the Somali media since the collapse of the state;

·        FULLY AWARE of the destructive consequences that resulted from past violations of freedom of expression perpetuated by the last government and that caused the collapse of the Somali state;

·        CONVINCED that the best and only road to complete reconciliation and lasting peace in Somalia is through peaceful dialogue, respect of pluralism and freedom of expression;

·        COGNIZANT of the leading role that the creative community and the media free from intimidations can play in promoting peace and reconciliation in Somalia; 

Calls upon:   

·        All political leaders to respect the freedom of expression of the Somali people and to refrain from intimidating and arresting the journalists and the creative community.

·        The journalists, writers and the creative community to perform their jobs with utmost care and responsibility and to refrain from any thing that may compromise their reputation such clannism, fabrications of falsehood, promoting division and antagonism among the Somali people, and using their craft for unlawful and immoral personal objectives. 

The working visit of the president of the Somali PEN to Djibouti  

During the two months of January and February 2005, the president of the Somali PEN, Maxamed Daahir Afrax, had been in Djibouti on a working visit in order to re-activate and re-energize the work of the organization at the headquarter office which had been very slow. The meetings that the president of the Somali PEN had with the members in Djibouti were quite successful; and the following had been accomplished: 

1. The 2^nd Session of the Executive Committee:

Djibouti is where the majority of executive committee of the Somali PEN are. The members of the executive committee had held the 2^nd Session of Somali PEN on 20 and 26 of January as a follow-up and conclusion of the meeting that the executive committee had in London on 24 December 2004 (see above for details). 

2. Re-activating the Office of PEN in Djibouti:

We have succeeded to re-activate and put new life into the Djibouti office of Somali PEN. This success has been made possible by the government of Djibouti who donated a building of several rooms and large meeting room located at the centre of the city to the organization. The building has been renovated and made ready by Maxamed Siyaad Ducaale, the Djibouti ambassador to Somalia, who is also a member of the executive committee and the chairman of the operational and peace literature committee. As a result, the office is now fully functional under the able new coordinator, Aden Hassan Aden, who is also a young poet and an active member of PEN. We wish to thank the government of Djibouti and Ambassador Maxamed Siyaad Ducaale on their generous support to the Somali-speaking PEN.   

3. Important seminars and welcoming of new members:

On the 30^th of January 2005, a large meeting was organized in Djibouti by PEN in which the officers, members and friends of the organization from all the regions of Djibouti had fully participated. Many journalists, writers and other members of the creative community had also participated in the meeting.  Particularly conspicuous were representatives of the main media organizations of the Republic of Djibouti such as La Nation which is the biggest newspaper in the country as well as the Radio and Television of Djibouti who had covered the meeting and fully reported of all the events.  

The meeting consisted of seminars on writing skills and the literature in the Somali language, and welcoming of new members to the organization who were informed of the history of the PEN movement and the structures and the operations of the Somali-speaking PEN. The President of the Somali-speaking PEN, Maxamed Daahir Afrax, had made the general speech on the history of PEN and that of the Somali-speaking PEN. He had also thanked the organizers of the meeting and the people of Djibouti for the warm welcome that he had been received with, and the new spirit demonstrated in support of the Somali-speaking PEN and the love of the literature by people always encouraged and support by the President of Djibouti, Ismail Omar Guelleh.

The other people who spoke in that meeting included the veteran writer, Aw Jaamac Cumar Ciise, author Saalax Xaashi Carab who just finished the largest Somali dictionary, journalist Cumar Siciid Bile, the director of the News Agency (?) of Djibouti and member of the executive committee of Somali-speaking PEN, historian Maxamed Cabdillaahi Riiraash, journalist Cabdalle Xaaji, poet Cumar Macallin and many others who participated enthusiastically in the discussions.  

4. Agreements of cooperation and partnership with some institutions:

During his visit to Djibouti, the president of Somali-speaking PEN was able to meet with heads of institutions and organizations with similar objectives as PEN. PEN had gone into formal agreements of cooperation and partnership with these institutions. Important steps have already been taken in support of the PEN project titled “producing creative works in the Somali language”. These institutions include: 

Radio and Television of Djibouti (RTD): The President of the Somali-speaking PEN, Maxamed Daahir Afrax, had a meeting with the Director of Radio and Television of Djibouti (RTD), Mr. Cabdi Caateeye, who is also the chairman of the all the committees of the Somali-speaking PEN. They agreed to establish partnership beginning with the project “Towards Creative Writing and Culture of Reading in the Mother Tongue” and holding literary events and meetings. The meeting on the 30 January 2005 discussed in the above was the first such project carried out together by RTD and PEN. 

ADAC is a NGO that is very active in the development and promotion of culture and arts in Djibouti and had a partnership with PEN. The President of PEN, Maxamed Daahir Afrax, had visited their centre and met with the Chairman of ADAC and other officers of the organization. The two side renewed their partnership and cooperation, and ADAC had played an important in all the activities carried out by the Somali-speaking PEN during the visit of Maxamed Daahir Afrax in Djibouti. PEN wishes to thank ADAC for their support and partnership. 

Institute of Languages: The Institute of Languages is a member of the Centre for Research of Djibouti (CERD), and has a strong partnership and cooperation with PEN. They had previously cooperated in organizing the historic and the successful Somali Literature Week in 2003. The Director of the Institute, Mr. Idiris Yuusuf Cilmi, is a talented great writer and a member of the executive committee of the Somali-speaking PEN. Mr. Cilmi and Mr. Afrax had worked together on all the projects accomplished during Afrax’s last visit to Djibouti. 

INXA: The President of the Somali-speaking PEN, Maxamed Daahir Afrax, had met on the 29 January 2005 with the Chairman, Mr. Cabdinaasir Axmed Cismaan, and the Coordinator of INXA, Mr. Cumar Maxamed Cabdille (Cumar Dhegey), who were visiting Djibouti at the time. INXA is a one of the biggest and leading organizations in the promotion of peace and human rights in Somalia. The two sides discussed possible areas of cooperation and Mr. Afrax spoke to the leadership of INXA about the idea of a project entitled “Towards Creative Writing and Culture of Reading in the Mother Tongue” and invited them to participate.