April 23, 2009
The Conflict in Somalia
CSI Blog entry on this event
As the conflict raged on, the entire region remained in turmoil. Various factions were fighting for control of Somalia while pirates captured large foreign commercial ships and took hostages. Speakers included Hussein Yusuf, a native Somali, who is a P.H.D student at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University where he studies Conflict Analyses and Resolution and focuses on state collapse, ethnic conflict and the deeply rooted age-old grievances that shape the ongoing conflicts in the Horn of Africa. Abdirahman M. Abdi, an economist he worked on Wall Street for Coopers and Lybrand, Citibank and Solomon Brothers. He also worked as a financial officer for the World Bank in Washington, D.C. Patrick Duplat, joined Refugees International as Advocate in September 2007 and focuses on displacement issues in Somalia and Afghanistan. He has also conducted missions and follow-up advocacy in the Central African Republic, Zimbabwe and Southern Africa. Previously Mr. Duplat’s worked with Médecins Sans Frontières, in Indonesia, Somalia and Chad, where he worked with refugees from Darfur.