Students beat the odds in Somalia

Twenty doctors and dozens of teachers will graduate from a university in Somalia this week in the first graduation ceremony for almost two decades in the failed Horn of Africa state.

Somalis are renowned for their entrepreneurship and resilience in the face of the anarchy their country has endured since the early 1990s.

“We could be a leader among African universities if it were not for the security problems,” said Abdirizak Yusuf, head of the medical students association at Mogadishu’s Benadir University, which will hold the graduation ceremony Thursday.

Two classmates were killed in the crossfire of a recent militia clash, and expensive equipment was damaged when the campus was forced to move out of the dangerous city center 18 months ago.

Twenty doctors -- 12 men and eight women -- and several dozen teachers will graduate from the school’s medical, education and computer science departments.

At least 2,000 people are expected to attend a graduation party; others will deliver speeches from abroad by telephone hooked up to a loudspeaker. Two local cellphone companies are paying for the calls, as well as pledging money and free telephone lines for the university.