Former Seychelles President heads to New York to deliver lecture on piracy by eTN

“The current Indian Ocean piracy issue will be the focal point of a lecture, which Seychelles former President James R. Mancham will deliver at Columbia University in New York City when he speaks there on Friday, April 23, 2010 on the theme, “A Global Citizen’s View on Soft Power and the Future of US Foreign Policy.” This is according to a communiqué issued by Mr. Mancham’s office Glacis-sur-Mer this morning.
The former President, who will leave Seychelles on Thursday, April 15, has been invited to make the keynote address by the University of Columbia and the Institute of Cultural Diplomacy, which will host a “USA meets Europe Forum” from April 22-25 in New York City.

Columbia University – commonly known as Columbia – is a member of the Ivy league – the oldest institute of higher learning in the state of New York. It annually awards the Pulitzer prize and is one of the founding members of the Association of American Universities. More nobel prize winners (alumni and faculty combined) have been affiliated with Columbia than any other institution in the world. Columbia endowment and annual research expenditures are among the largest of any American universities. The university currently has 4 global centers in Ammon, Jordan; Beijing, China; Paris, France; Mumbia, India.

The Institute of Cultural Diplomacy is an international not-for-profit, non-governmental organization based in Berlin focused on the theoretical and practical promotion of cultural diplomacy.

Following the conference in New York City, Mr. Mancham has been invited to participate in the 29th Annual World Russia Forum in Washington DC – a yearly event co-sponsored by the American University in Moscow, The Discovery Institute, the Eurasian Centre, the Council of Russian compatriots, and the University of Georgetown and George Washington with the objective of discussing and generating new ideas for the development and broad expansion of US Russia business, political, science, education, and cultural cooperation.

In a statement issued this morning, Mr. Mancham, who is expected to return to Seychelles at the beginning of May, said that he will avail of his participation at these international conferences to discuss a new magazine, which he expects to launch in August this year entitled “The Voice of the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Seas,” which will focus on the many and varied developments taking place in the Indian Ocean today.

Piracy Threat Cannot be Avoided (discoveryNews)

The former president of the Seychelles Islands is in New York to warn of increased piracy in the Indian Ocean along the Horn of Africa. James R. Mancham will speak at Columbia University and later at the Discovery Institute-sponsored World Russia Forum April 25-27 in Washington, D.C.

Piracy also was also discussed in Seattle last night at an appearance by Koshin Mohamed, a Somali-American who recently returned from combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mohamed, 31, a community leader in Seattle whose childhood was spent in Somalia, said that international military aid is needed to stop the pirates and drive out the Al Shabaab (al Qaeda linked) terrorists that control 80 percent of southern Somalia. The country also needs development of economic options for youth if the opportunist crime-wave of piracy is to be stopped. As is, Mohamed said, impoverished and uneducated young men are easy prey to ideological Islamist encouragement to defy international law and raid innocent trading ships far out to sea.

Source: ECOTERRA