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Peace Day Reports 2006 Peace-building Events in Puntland's Capital Peace Day has become a popular annual event in Garowe where most of the population gathered at the Mire Aware stadium on 21 September for cultural and sporting events and presentations by community artists and leaders. The day's activities were arranged by SAMAAD, a local NGO that has been active in development, and relief activities as well as peace-building initiatives since 2004. Strong support was also provided by representatives of the Nugal Regional administration, Garowe Municipality, Puntland Government counterparts, and funding agencies, including Diakonia-Sweden, UNDP and UNHCR. The organizers used the preceding week to wage a peace campaign using the media, billboards, tee shirts, fliers and mobile announcers who travelled through each community promoting peace day through amplifiers mounted on their vehicles. The day's activities at the stadium opened with a reading from the Koran and statements by local leaders who emphasized the importance of peace and development, the role of women and youth in promoting peace, protection and promotion of human and gender rights, and respect for the rule of law and equal justice. Poetry readings, songs, drama, a peace march and football game followed. School principals and students, youth and women's organizations, participated in all of these awareness raising activities which honored thousands of Somalis who have lost their lives, homes and livelihoods to conflict in recent decades. ...................................................... |