Gabooye Minority Organisation ITEM 5 Ladies and gents, distinguished guest, excellency I will also great you in Olowe language (Aswanta iyo dariyaasha shaharkaa ah) olowe language My name is Dr Naser Mohammed Issa It's of a great interest that this years 12th forum on minority issues focuses on human rights and minority language education. In the 7th century Af Colowe (olowe) language was the official language in the back than Gabooye Kingdom under the rule of King Tin-nihi, King Tin-aro, King Tin-aws and later quiet recently Queen arawelo. Under the rule of the kingdom, it was compulsory for all traders coming through the port of Saylac to learn and speak Af Colowe. Because of its strategic location with a land area of 637,657 square kilometers, somalia's terrain consists mainly of plateaus, plains and highlands. Its coastline is more than 3,333 kilometers in length, the longest of mainland Africa and the Middle East. During the Gabooye kingdom some of our biggest traders were the Othman empire, the Persians, the Arabs and the Indians, some have settled and made the kingdom there home. The Olowe language (Af Colowe) is currently near extinct as its not spoken in Somalia. Critics claim that it's a satanic language (Af shaytaan) as it has phrases closed to the Hebrew language and its not allowed to be spoken in public. Elders have stopped teaching Af Colowe (olowe language) and its banned from schools, fearing repercussions. The history, culture and traditions of our kingdom has been tampered with, erased and forgotten. And now we are in a verge of losing our language, a language that is rich with historical relationship and trading. It's extremely important to continue teaching the language and protecting its core value in the society and I pledge the president of this conference, UN rapporteur on minority issues and member states to help protect olowe language which is an important part Gabooye folklore performed by the women and girls. I would recommend the UN rapporteur on minority issues to pay a country visit to Hargeisa with the tribal King Boqor Ahmed Iman Warsame to review the situation. In conclusion, I would like to share a few words from the olowe language. In support of the language and the millions of Colowe Muuse dhariyo, women and girls I would like to invite the president of the forum to speak the olowe language by saying (af Olowe wa shahar) Which means Colowe is a good language.