04-AUG-A-4
OVERTURE TO
THE ELDP OF THE GSEHD TO CONSIDER
THE PROPOSAL
OF AMBASSADOR SAAD NOOR OF SOMALILAND
TO FOUND THE
SAHEL UNIVERSITY NEAR BERBERA
ON THE RED
SEA COAST
From: Glenn Geelhoed
To: dschwandt@gwu.edu
Date: 8/6/04 6:19PM
Subject: May I introduce Ambassador Saad Noor of Somaliland
Dear Prof. Schwandt:
I had been introduced to the former British colony n the Horn of Africa, Somaliland ( as distinct from Somalia, the former Italian colony that had been united with Somaliland democracy until the breakaway and civil war you may know from the warlords who controlled the latter, and with the resultant starvation that was the occasion for the Clinton "humanitarian invasion" familiar from "Blackhawk Down," etc.) and led a medical mission this year to Somaliland. A GWUsenior medical student team and I worked in the Capital Hargeisa, and also the chief Red Sea port of Berbera. Before and after this mission, I had met with Dr. Saad Noor, who has a degree to which I aspire‑‑an EdD from no less impressive an institution as the University of Michigan ("All Rise, Please!)
In planning my next mission back to the Horn of Africa, I met again with him as he has just returned from a three month stay there, before returning to his office in the Somaliland Interest Section here near GWU's DC campus. He has a vision which is a long term plan in an area along the Red Sea Coast of Berbera which he is trying to encumber for a specific purpose‑‑an idea on which he would like to consult and also one which would make an ideal collaborative project with the ELDP to which I had introduced him.
He is hoping to found the Sahel University in Berbera on this Red Sea Coast, in an area devastated by the long Civil War and previously occupied by the Soviet's "toehold in Africa". I have a picture of a remarkable set of modern ruins‑‑a massive hospital, never completed or opened, built by the Russians before it was abandoned, overlooking the site on the Coast near the port‑‑which may potentially be converted to dormitories for the Sahel University once it emerges from idea to reality. But the careful, long‑term, planning that will be going into this is, as Dr. Noor suggests, akin to Cardinal Newman's "Idea of a University" and what it should entail. We talked about the future of university education in such a unique part of the world (Somaliland is 99.9% Islamic, but a growing liberal democracy, not encumbered by any foreign debt, and with the area of the Sahel surrounding it the site of great mineral and petroleum potential not yet exploited, in a bridge between the Middle East and the African continent and sharing some of the less fortunate aspects of each, but also serving as an important strategic crossroads.) Could it be a laboratory of experiential learning, and follow new models and avoid mistakes that do not need repating?
If it is possible, I would like to introduce him to the ELDP program ro see the Ashburn Campus of GWU and have an opportunity for him to open such a discussion with you and others at a time to your convenience for which I might drive him out
We will work out the timing with his phone number being 202/467‑2797 and his email address above.
Thanks!
GWG