Dear Delegates,

My name is Rashid Yasin and I will be directing the African Union for the 2010 Harvard National Model United Nations conference. I am in the class of 2012 at Harvard and am a member of Kirkland House. I will be concentrating in engineering sciences, probably focusing on mechanical or electrical engineering. Despite the technical leanings of my educational aspirations, I have always been interested in what is going on in the world I live in, and hence I greatly enjoy the Model UN experience.

On top of my engineering-related and MUN interests, I enjoy singing and am a member of the Harvard Din and Tonics, Harvard’s signature all-male a capella group. I was born and raised in the United States, and grew up in a small town in Massachusetts, where my family was the only Muslim presence in the community, and so I’ve enjoyed the vibrant diversity of the Harvard community, and also the Model UN community.

I am enormously excited for our committee this year – I think both of the topic areas we will be addressing are incredibly interesting and can be taken in a variety of directions. It’s fairly rare that pirates come up in the news, and as a person of mixed heritage, I find cultural/ethnic identity to be a fascinating subject to study, so I really like thinking about and researching both of the topic areas for this upcoming year. I hope to meet many of you at conference, it is going to be a remarkable time.

Sincerely,

Rashid Yasin
Director, African Union
Harvard National Model United Nations 2010

Topic Area A: Somali Pirates

The growth of piracy as a means of employment in Somalia is of great concern to the world community in general, and especially to the African community. It affects commerce and is a threat to freedom and security on the seas. Additionally, it brings a heightened military presence to African waters because of the presence of international ships which patrol the coast in order to protect their nation’s trade interests.

The African Union will need to find a way to stop piracy in Somalia and also to identify and eliminate the root causes of piracy to ensure that it does not return to Somalia nor will it return in some other nation in the future. The issue is complicated by the interference and illegal activities committed by members of the international community in Somali waters (such as overfishing or dumping of radioactive material on the shoreline) and the status of government in Somalia. The AU will need to not only look at how to stop piracy, but also how to prevent the underlying circumstances that cause it from appearing again.

Topic Area B: The Effects of Tribalism and Ethnic Nationalism on Elections

One of the most prominent and pertinent things that often hinders African democracy is the issue of voting based on or manipulated by strong “tribal” identification. The word “tribal” is a loaded word, and must be used carefully, but will be addressed in this context as referring to the various ethnic identities that Africans identify themselves as, often above or conflicting with their national identities. In countries like Rwanda and Sudan, conflicts between different ethnic groups have led to violence and destruction, and across the continent, citizens vote based on ethnic lines, and often can be manipulated by politicians who make use of strong tribal ties. The African Union will need to find a way to prevent the manipulation of tribal identities and to come to a consensus about the coexistence of nationalism and tribal identity. However, these measures will have to be balanced carefully with a desire to keep tribal and ethnic affiliations strong. To only look at the idea of tribalism as a negative piece of African culture is flawed, as it is integral to the African identity, and so the AU must balance efforts to stop the manipulation of tribal ties and the conflicts caused by ethnic with efforts to maintain ethnic identity as a valuable and instrumental part of African life.