As Election Day draws closer, many all around the UK are contemplating whether they should vote or not. Some naively argue that all politicians are corrupt, while others very simply ‘can’t be bothered’. But all around the world there are people who have struggled for and who still yearn for the freedom to choose a system of governance.

Thirty years ago, Mohamed Barud Ali, a UK educated native of Somaliland returned to his town of Hargeysa to start with colleagues a community volunteers group named the ‘Hargeysa Self Help group’. The aim of the group was to recruit local civilians to improve the dire state of the town’s public amenities. In 1981, while trying to improve the town’s hospital facilities and the well-being of the Somaliland people, Mohamed and his colleagues were imprisoned in solitary confinement under the brutal dictatorship of the Somali general, Said Barre. They were released eight years later after staunch international activism, dubbed the Prisoners of Conscience campaign, which pressured the Barre regime to release them.

On Friday, the 30^th of April 2010 at 5.30pm and coinciding with the 21^st anniversary of his release, Mohamed will speak about his life under the Barre regime at the Temple Hall, in the Temple of Peace in Cardiff and will present his recently released autobiography titled, ‘Weerane’, (The Mourning Tree). Alongside him, two of his colleagues Adan Warsama and Omer Essa will speak about their roles in the Hargeysa Self Help group and their experiences under Said Barre’s rule.

Rt Hon Alun Michael, outgoing MP for Cardiff South and Penarth, and Eid Ali Ahmed, of Somaliland Societies in Europe, will also speak at the event. They will speak about their respective roles in the activism towards the release of Mohamed and his colleagues and towards exposing the human rights atrocities conducted by the Said Barre regime against the Somaliland people during the 1980s.

To learn of a world ravaged by poverty, the chaos of totalitarianism and why democracy and the right to political choice matters, join us for this event.

The event is free and will be followed by a buffet and networking opportunities.  For more information and to register, please contact Naomi Blight (Programme Co-ordinator), at NaomiBlight@wcia.org.uk or 029 20228549

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