Hargeisa – The Republic of Somaliland and the Government of France have officially launched the commencement of the ‘Somaliland Heritage Conservation and Development’ project.
During a ceremony held in Hargeisa, the Minister of Trade and Tourism, Mr. Abdirahman Hassan Nur, and the Deputy Ambassador of France based in Nairobi, Mr. Romain JOLY, announced the implementation of this extensive initiative, which is backed by funding of two million US dollars. Key focus areas of the project will include creating financial opportunities, particularly through tourism, to generate sustainable revenue for the development and maintenance of heritage sites; enhancing the capacity and expertise of institutions tasked with managing culture and heritage; and preserving historical locations, most notably the Laas Geel cave paintings.
France is providing these funds through the French Development Agency (AFD), and the project will be jointly implemented by Expertise France and Somaliland’s Ministry of Trade and Tourism.
The ceremony was also attended by the Presidential Strategic Advisor of the Republic of Somaliland, Mr. Kamal Marjan, and the largest single delegation of permanent French government officials ever to visit Somaliland. Attendees included the AFD Director for East Africa, Ms. Aïssatou Kumagangue; the French Business Representative to Somaliland, Mr. Mohamed Sahardiid; Professor Xavier Gutherz, the pioneering researcher who first introduced the Laas Geel cave paintings to the world in 2002; and numerous other officials from the fields of development, heritage, tourism, and archaeology.
Somaliland is home to numerous sites of profound hidden heritage and ancient history that are of global significance. These include artifacts and traces of human activity tens of thousands of years old, as well as historical towns.
Since 2002, the French government has supported the Republic of Somaliland with programs for UNESCO World Heritage education related to the ancient heritage passed down by the people who inhabited this land millennia ago.
The Deputy Ambassador expressed his gratitude for the warm welcome and the strong cooperation the project has received from the Government of the Republic of Somaliland. Minister Abdirahman Hassan Nur, in turn, extended special thanks to the French government. He expressed hope that this project would serve as a cornerstone for a lasting partnership between the two nations, enabling Somaliland to benefit from France’s expertise in managing and developing cultural heritage and ancient artifacts, and from efforts to promote global awareness that can generate economic opportunities.
