UN General Assembly
2017

Similarly, young people are vital to peacebuilding and State-building. The number of youths in our Parliament has increased exponentially. I have also appointed a number of very young people to key Cabinet positions. Tragically, one of them, Mr. Abbas Siraji, was killed in May. He was a beacon of hope for Somalia’s young people. Having grown up in Kenya, in the world’s largest refugee camp, he worked hard, studied and worked for various United Nations agencies. I appointed him Minister of Public Works and Reconstruction when he was 31. Although he is no longer with us, his appointment brought out the potential of thousands of young people across the country. He showed them that life in the refugee camps, harsh as it was, did not mean the end of hope.