SSU – Diplomatic Offensive: Eng. Abdulkadir Khalif - Secretary General Southern Somali Union (SSU) 17 January 2006

For the last two weeks, SSU 1^st vice president Eng. Geilani Sheikh Hussein has been touring the United Kingdom in order to drum up support for the SSU. The vice president held meetings in London and in the northern English city of Manchester where he addressed huge gatherings of people who originated from southern Somalia. During his tour, Eng. Geilani articulated the vision and mission of SSU to his enthusiastic audiences who expressed their wish to join the newly formed organization. A more inclusive meeting of all southern Somalis living in the UK is planned for next week and Eng. Geilani had to delay his departure from London in order to attend that meeting. Geilani will travel to the United Arab Emirates after his UK tour at the invitation of SSU supporters in the UAE. Eng. Geilani will be accompanied to the UAE by Mr. Abbasheikh Abu Mudhir, an influential member of the UK community and a delegate from London.

Meanwhile, Eng. Abdulkadir Khalif, SSU Secretary General will be leaving for Kenya on the 30^th of January where he will be joined by Eng. Geilani early next month. The two are expected to lobby the UN agencies and international organizations who have operations inside southern Somalia. They will also be meeting with MPs representing constituencies in southern Somalia. They hope to meet also with businessmen and women from southern Somalia who have operations in Kenya as well as representatives of the Somali Federal authorizes based in Nairobi. Also in Nairobi will be Suldaan Abdullahi who flew from London yesterday (01/15/2006) and who will be visiting Nairobi and Addis Ababa before coming back to the UK. He will be meeting people of interest in Nairobi and Addis Ababa and will also help mediate the conflicts between some clans in southern Somalia. Another SSU delegation headed by Hussein Sheikh Abdikadir will be leaving for Toronto, Canada on 01/21/2006. They will be touring several cities in the Canadian province of Ontario for about 2 weeks. It has also been scheduled that a delegation of 5 officials headed by the President of SSU, Dr. Aden Abokar will be visiting New York and Washington, DC early next month of a visit that will be of crucial importance to the operations and success of the SSU. All these flurry of activity by the SSU leaders will culminate in a high profile meeting in Minnesota towards the end of February or early march.

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