Information regarding the United Somali Congress (USC). [SOM5169]

According to the President of the North Somali Association of Ottawa, Ali Mohamed Osoble, nicknamed Wardeegle, was the Hawiye Vice-President of the SNM until its Congress in Harrar Ethiopia on 2 February 1987 or 1988. The President of the North Somali Association of Quebec and Mr. Mohamoud A. Mohamed, a prominent member of the Canadian Somali community in Ottawa, both report that Ali Mohamed Osoble Wardeegle was the Vice-President of the SNM until about 1988. All three sources agree that Ali Mohamed Osoble Wardeegle was one of the founders of the United Somali Congress, USC, a Hawiye based opposition movement, in 1989. According to the Ex-Acting Director General for higher Education in Somalia, presently residing in Ottawa, members of the Hawiye community in Rome appointed Ali Wardeegle as Chairman of the United Somali Congress in January 1989.

Corroborating information from published sources regarding the above topic is currently unavailable to the IRBDC.

According to the attached USC publication, Profile of the United Somali Congress (USC), dated July 1989, various organizations merged to form the USC in Rome. The conference (7-15 January 1989) facilitated the birth of the USC, the outline of its objectives, and the plan for its first convention to be held in January 1990, where an Official Charter and Platform is to be adopted.

Although delegates from the various organizations in Somalia were unable to attend the conference, their participation, through correspondence, was reported. [
ENDNOTES:
Profile of the United Somalia Congress (USC), (Washington: United Somali Congress, July 1989), p.1.]

Attached please find USC press releases from Washington DC dated 4 August 1989, 18 September 1989, and 20 October 1989.