Hargeisa, June 02 2013 (SDN) — after more than twenty years in self-imposed exile the Somaliland born veteran politician and a long time pro unionist has returned on Sunday to his homeland to a rousing reception. Prof Ahmed Ismael Samatar, co-founder and dean of the Institute for Global Citizenship at Macalester College who has been staunchly opposed Somaliland’s unilateral separation from the rest of Somalia since 1991, hopes to reclaim a role in national life by joining Somaliland’s quest for international recognition. His arrival of the port city’s Berbera international airport, residents of Berbera city and others from various parts of the country greeted him at the VIP terminal at Berbera airport. Prof Samatar who is a world renowned scholar belongs to Mohamed Caase sub clan of the Gadabuursi -clan part of the larger Dir clan and was also the only Presidential candidate from Somaliland to run for the top Job in the SFG 2012 Presidential election.
Background
Prof. Samatar apart from being a politician ,he is also well known for is intellectual contributions and expertise in the areas of global political economy, political and social thought, and African development, is the author/editor of five books and over thirty articles, including Interviewing the Interviewer, (2011); Escape From Hell: What Now For Somali-Americans?, (2011); The African State: Reconsiderations (Heinemann, 2002) and Somalia: State Collapse, Multilateral Intervention, and Strategies for Political Reconstruction (Brookings Institution, 1995). Professor Samatar is also the founding editor-in-chief of Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies. He is also the editor of 28 Volumes of Macalester International, a journal of undergraduate education and internationalism. His current research is on two tracks: leadership and the state in Somalia, and globalization and the rise of Islamic consciousness. In the special commissioned volume of Bildhaan which focuses on the exigencies of transition in Somalia.
SDN Hargeisa
