COLUMBUS, Ohio – The president of Somalia will be speaking on the OSU campus today, addressing a crowd that will include members of the Columbus Somali population, second-largest in the U.S.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud speaks at the Ohio Union this morning.
Mohamud was elected in 2012 and in January the U.S. recognized his government, the first such recognition in more than 20 years. He is leading the first constitutional government of Somalia since 1991.
Mohamud was scheduled to deliver a speech at Ohio State University Monday morning to a crowd expected to contain many members of the city’s Somali community, the second largest in the country after Minneapolis-St. Paul.
In April, he was listed in “Time” magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. He has been a civic and political activist, a university professor and dean, and is the founder and chairman of the Peace and Development Party.
Secretary of State John Kerry welcomed Mohamud to Washington Friday.
A previous president of Somali visited the city in 2009 as part of a tour of cities with large Somali populations.
Somali was without a functioning government for two decades after warlords toppled the country’s longtime dictator in 1991.