The article 22 of the Resolutions from the 2006 Somaliland Conference in Washington DC called on SOPRI to organize a Goodwill Mission delegation, which will visit Somaliland to discuss the resolutions from the conference with all the organs of state and other concerned parties with a view to convince them of the need to implement these resolutions - the 2006 Somaliland Conference Resolutions are available to at http://www.sopri.org/draft_resolutions.pdf

The Somaliland Policy and Reconstruction Institute (SOPRI) announce the departure of Goodwill Mission delegation to Somaliland next week. Members of the Diaspora, under the auspices of SOPRI, have selected a small group of distinguished delegates who have the stature, dedication and leadership skills to serve on the Goodwill mission. The delegates will be in the country for 3-4 weeks and plan to visit all the regions.

The primary purpose of the Goodwill Mission is to promote cooperation and understanding among the state organs in Somaliland and to facilitate consultation on major issues of national interest, and more specifically, the mission is planning to;

• Discuss the Resolutions from the 2006 Somaliland Convention that was organized by SOPRI with all the organs of state and other concerned parties with a view to convincing them of the need to implement these resolutions, in collaboration with the Diaspora. These resolutions can be used as a basis for developing a new national development strategy. The success of the Mission will be measured by the extent to which the main points of the Resolutions are endorsed by the parties and agreement reached, in principle, on their implementation
• Encourage the national leadership, together with the political parties, and the people they represent to close ranks, display a strong sense of unity and purpose, cooperate and consult to overcome national problems, and discard partisan politics and petty rivalries.
• Underscore the nation's overriding objectives which include a) safeguarding of its sovereign independence, b) good governance by adherence to the rule of law, peace, justice, equality, c) socio-economic development; and for its people, and finally the attainment of international recognition of Somaliland's independent status.
• Build a platform for consultations between the national leadership and representatives of the "gurbaa joog", which would enable both parties to develop a common strategy that would identify areas where the resources and experience of Somalilanders could best be utilized to advance the common cause.

The Goodwill Mission delegates are:

1. Ahmed Hassan Musse - Arizona, USA
2. Abdirahim Abby Farah - New York, NY, USA
3. Abdi Ismail Yunis - Ottawa, Canada
4. Abdirahman Elmi - Ottawa, Canada
5. Farah Issa Abdi - Copenhagen, Denmark
6. Hassan Megag Samater - Houston, TX, USA
7. Osman Sahardeed - Minneapolis, MN, USA
8. Qamar Ibrahim - Minneapolis, MN, USA
9. Ahmed Yusuf - Columbus, OH, USA
10. Kinsi Abdillahi Sugal - Toronto, Canada
11. Abdi Haybe - London, UK
12. Mohamed Yassin - Dubai, UAE
13. Abdirhman Hassan Awl - Ottawa, Canada

We have sent out last week 900 invitations to all those who attended the conference to participate in a conference call briefing from the Goodwill mission delegates, and we thank all of you who have participated in the conference call.

More information about the delegation is available at SOPRI's web site; please visit this page (http://www.sopri.org/delegation_info.pdf). If you would like to receive information from SOPRI you can contact us at contact@sopri.org or if you want to provide advice to the delegation you can use the same email address contact@sopri.org and we'll make sure all of your comments and advice get to the delegation.

Somaliland Policy & Reconstruction Institute(SOPRI)