But it can be tough for many to find affordable housing.

That’s why hundreds lined up outside a North Columbus church last weekend in hopes of getting a shot at a government-subsidized apartment.

I went there just to fill out an application, not to go to the E.R. and get pepper sprayed. It was very embarrassing.

Shrkuri Mohadem is a young mother who came to the U.S. from Somalia five years ago. She was outside the Sunbury Road church when the line reportedly got out of control and police were called. She was among those pepper-sprayed, but it was worse for her friend Ifrah Farah. She came to the U.S. from Somalia just four months ago and doesn’t speak English.

“I couldn’t see anything. I was trying to run, I didn’t know where to go or ask for help since I don’t speak English. The ambulance came, and I went to go to the ambulance so they could wash my eyes, but I couldn’t go there because I couldn’t talk to them,” Farah says through in interpreter.

She called it a wake-up call and a shock on a day she was hoping to take steps toward getting her first apartment.

Hassan Omar runs the Somali Community Association of Ohio, just around the corner from where Farah and others had their run-in with police. He calls the Saturday incident unfortunate and symptomatic of the larger housing problem.

He says cheap, abundant housing was a major reason thousands of Somalis flocked to Columbus in the 1990s. But growth has outpaced construction, and he says apartments that are available are often a poor fit.

Most of the Somali community, families are larger than ordinary American families. You’ll see some families that consist of eight or nine, and (apartment owners) decided the apartments are two bedrooms or three bedrooms.

The lack of cheap housing rests at least partially with the private sector, but Omar wants more housing assistance from the city, county, and state.

“We don’t want to say ‘We’re Somali’ and stay separate. We’re American and we are here. We are citizens and would like to assimilate, but we need outside support. We need resources to continue to increase the services, which are a necessity for the community to obtain more self-sufficiency.”

By resources, Omar means subsidized housing, English language programs, job training, and help for at-risk youth, all programs that have been victims of recent budget cuts.

The Columbus Community Relations Commission works with local non-profits that offer interpreters, employment services, and other assistance. WOSU asked for more details about programs and funding cuts, but the city did not respond to requests for comment.

Jamie Longazel is a professor at the University of Dayton and specializes in immigrant issues. He says cuts to subsidized housing and other social service agencies are an increasing trend around the country.

And so immigrant groups, particularly low-income immigrant groups, are probably are going to be the first ones, frankly, to see many of their services go. And so the absence of a program like this, or the removal of a program like this, isn’t surprising given the current economic climate.

Longazel is even more skeptical about the economic climate going forward, especially in cities. Longazel says there’s a new trend of immigrants moving to rural areas.

Back at the Somali community association, Ifrah Farah, the recent immigrant who was pepper-sprayed, pauses when asked if she regrets coming to the U.S.

So far, I not regret coming here, but it’s shocking that I just met this while I was just going there to get an application.

Nuradin Abdi completed his prison sentence in August and was in federal custody in Louisiana while final preparations were made to return him to Somalia.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday confirmed the deportation.

Abdi’s sister, Kaltun Karani, says the family is happy that Abdi is a free man.

The Justice Department accused Abdi of suggesting a plan to shoot up an unidentified Columbus shopping mall during an August 2002 meeting at a coffee shop with two friends, both of whom were later convicted of terrorism charges.

Early reports indicated the threat might also have included bombing a mall.

The students planned to present $17,460 to three charity groups Thursday night after breaking the Ramadan fast in Columbus.

Ohio State student Rowda Olad said students felt they had to do something as they saw how many children are dying. Olad said the students, from Ohio State and Columbus State Community College, plan to continue fundraising.

Money for famine victims also has been raised in other parts of the country, including Minnesota, with the largest population of Somalis in the U.S.

Across the Horn of Africa, more than 12 million people need food aid, including residents of Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti.

At previous stops in Vienna, Virginia and in Minneapolis Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed appealed to U-S Somalis for help to end two decades of violence. He’s expected to make a similar appeal in Columbus.

Ali Dirshe of Columbus teaches English at the Somali Community Association of Ohio on Cleveland Avenue. He welcomes the presidential visit and the attention it focuses on Somalia’s civil war.

“Unfortunately we have 19 years of civil war. Over a million people died of starvation and fightings and still the fighting is continuing until this hour you know.” Says Dirshe.

Sheikh Ahmed says Somalia has become “more of an issue” for U-S foreign policy in recent months. U-S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says as much. In August, Mrs Clinton said violent extremists al Shabab recruits young Somalis from the U-S and other countries to become suicide bombers. Dirshe says that makes it even more important that U-S Somalis respond to President Ahmed’s appeal for help.

“This is the only chance you know. Otherwise this place will be taken over by hard-liners, people like al-Shabab and you know some of them are affiliated will al Qaada. We don’t even know if Osama bin Laden is in Somalia today.” Says Dirshe.

Like many of the estimated 15,000 Somalis in Columbus, Ali Dirshe came to the city in the 1990s and now has U-S citizenship. Mohammed Ali also arrived here during the 1990s and now owns Imani Tax Services on Westerville road. He says just like the country, Somalia, the Columbus Somali Community is split over whether it supports the transitional federal government in Mogadishu.

“We are nothing to the country. There are people running the show in the country and he needs to go and see these people and sit down and talk and solve the problem. But, in here he may get a fake support. Some people may support him but that support may not be helpful for him.” Says Ali.

Lats year, the U-S gave $189,000,000 in aid to Somalia. State Department spokesman Darby Holladay says Washington is committed to meeting humanitarian needs. But, he says al Shabab and other violent extremists threaten to deny more aid to Somalis.

Tom Borgerding WOSU News.

A crowd of more than 200 welcomed Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed to the Columbus Convention Center. President Sheikh Ahmed’s 12 minute speech stressed the importance of good schools to his country’s future.

“Education I believe should be strengthened and it can lead to an immediate solution to the Somali problem,” he said.

President Sheikh Ahmed said extremist groups like al-Qaida, which oppose government, are taking advantage of uneducated Somali youth and holding the country hostage.

“Most Somalis are young people. Most of them have never received formal education that can lead them to understand and to differentiate and to identify what they are in,” the president said.

President Sheikh Ahmed blamed the civil war on Somalia’s lack of educational opportunities, and he pleaded with the U.S. and its colleges and universities for help.

President Sheikh Ahmed also criticized religious extremists – calling their misrepresentations of Islam unacceptable. Later, though, he acknowledged no separation between religion and government in Somalia.

“Islam has principles in terms of political processes. One principal is the consultation with the whole public, it’s the involvement of everybody, the people in what they are electing and what they are practicing,” President Sheikh Ahmed said.

He said Islam’s other principles are social justice as well as a competent government.

“And that principle specifies that if bad people are elected while good people are available that is not acceptable,” he said.

The president touted Somalis as “active,” “industrious” people. And he said he is prepared to save the country. But after the speech, while speaking to reporters, Sheikh Ahmed remained vague on how he would do it.

“The steps are clear: the construction of a constitution of government institutions; the social service agencies need to be restored; humanitarian assistance for people who are suffering. If we succeed in those efforts Somalia will succeed,” the president said.

President Sheikh Ahmed said has the best chance of making the country’s transitional government work because he was elected in a free, fair election

Liibaan Ishmael of Columbus regularly sends money to his mother and other relatives in Kenya and Somalia. He uses a locally owned business to quickly get cash from Ohio to family members in a region wracked by war and a refugee populaton.

“As you know, Somalia has been in perpetual civil war since 1991. There are no banks, there are no schools, there’s no infrastructure whatsoever. And, the money that’s sent from here is what’s keeping those people going.”

Ishmael says money transfers are the largest foreign currency infusion into Somalia and surrounding camps. He says the shutdown of remittance agency accounts by Huntington and other banks would bring what he calls a crisis for his family and for the region.

“If we don’t have the opportunity and the chance to send that money via our equivalent of Western Unions, if you will, money transfers. Then, my family will be in a bind. The’ll be in a situation where they won’t be able to send their kids to school, they won’t be able to buy their groceries, they won’t be able to pay the rent.” Says Ishmael. Isak Warsame is president of Dahabshil Incorporated, a local transfer company. He says the Somali population uses his service because its efficient and because he enjoys the trust of his customers

“When they send the money from us, they get it the next day, the next hour.”

Warsame says the average amount of individual money transfers is 200 dollars but some amounts can go as high as $10,000 dollars if someone in the U-S wants to provide an income-generating business to their relatives. But, Huntington spokeswoman Jeri Grier says post Nine-Eleven legislation is forcing the bank’s hand. The Bank Secrecy Act and the Patriot Act require that bankers know their customers and evaluate any risk to their banking business.

“We have determined that we are not able to economically provide banking services to these types of customers. They typically engage in money transfers on behalf of third parties through Huntington or a non publicly-traded money transmitter.” Says Grier.

Huntington is the last bank in central Ohio to offer these services to remittance agency accounts. Other Central Ohio banks closed such accounts earlier. Steve Houdak, Chief of Public Affairs for the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network at the U-S Treasury Department says the bank rules are not targeted at Somalia. But, he says the lack of a central banking system in Somalia makes it harder for U-S banks to know their customers.

“Somalia is particularly difficult because you don’t have to go too far beyond the front page of the newspaper to see that Somalia is a dangerous place and the central banking system is pretty much collapsed. So, it poses a particularly difficult problem. The rules that we’ve established are applicable across the board. They’re not targeted at Somalia or any country in particular.” Says Houdak.

But, Liibann Ishmael, says he takes the closing of the remittance agency accounts personally.

“It is not money that is money laundered or state money. This is money that I worked. I worked for it. I paid taxes and I’m sending money to my family so they can keep their life going. If I’m not given that opportunity and there’s no alternative for me to send that money then I think that would be a slap in the face.” Says Ishmael.

The Somali-American Chamber of Commerce says its is working to find a solution that allows continued transfer of monies from the U-S and from Columbus to Somalia and surrounding camps.

Tom Borgerding WOSU News

For more than a decade, since the overthrow of dictator Siad Barre in the early 1990s, millions of Somalis have fled their homeland. 35,000 of the refugees settled in Columbus making it one of the largest Somali communities in the U-S. Recently, Ethiopia, with the backing of the United States, helped shore up a transitional federal goverment in Mogadishu, Somalia. But, violence continues among supporters of different warlords and between the transitional government and the Islamic Courts Union, a group that wants to impose strict religious law. During a visit to a worldwide Somali Conference meeting in Columbus, State Department Ambassador, Jendayi Frazer, acknowledged the Somali conflict is ingrained.

“The only solution to the crisis, to the conflict in Somalia is to have serious inclusive political dialogue with all stakeholders, the transitional federal government, religious authorities, clan elders, women, civil society, business people, and the Somali diaspora has a strong voice to play.” Says Ambassador Frazer.

While Frazer was speaking to the conference on Ohio State University’s campus, Demonstrators outside the site denounced the academic conference saying some of the participants expressed statements “bordering on demagoguery.” Abdow Issa is head of the Somali American United Council headquartered on Morse Road. He says his group was not invited to the Columbus Conference.

So we are not expecting them, acadcemic show, we want action for the Somalis who are in need of help now. Says Issa.

Abukar Osman helped bring the conference to Columbus. He says the presentations reflect the current thinking on the Somali civil war. ” But, its not political and its not affiliated to anyone.” Osman says Columbus’ reputation as a welcoming city for Somali refugees helped it compete against cities in Europe and Australia to draw the conference and its 300 participants. Ambassador Frazer says Somalis in Columbus and other parts of the world have a role to play in solving the current conflict.

“We would hope that the Somali diaspora community would call on those who are killing innocent civilians to stop that. We, the United States, will continue to put pressure on the transitional federal government also to create an enabling environment so that people can return home and the Ethiopians can go home.” Says Frazer.

But, recent dispatches from Mogadishu indicates more violence continues. Attacks on western-backed troops killed four people and injured 13 others. And the Associated Press reports rival clan militias fighting over scarce pasture land in central Somalia recently killed 18 people and injured 15 others. Tom Borgerding, WOSU News.

Reports are Ethiopian jets bombed Somalia’s two main airports during the week-end and ground troops seized control of several border towns from the powerful Council of Islamic Courts. The fundamentalist Islamic militia earlier seized control of the capital Mogadishu and brought some order after 15 years of tribal warfare.

Mahdi Taakilo is president of Somali Link Newspaper in Columbus. He says while many local Somalis disagree with the Council’s hard-line religious beliefs, they support them because the country is safer under their control.

“They came in and seized all the guns and all the weapons,” Taakil says. “What that did was bring peace back to the country.”

The United Nations helped set up a central government in Somalia two years ago, but it has not been able to seize control of the impoverished country. Taakilo estimates as many as 55,000 or more Somalis now live in Central Ohio. They began arriving here in the 1990s to flee the civil war that erupted after the overthrow of dictator Siad Barre.

For more than 15 years Somalia has been without any kind of government control. Gangs have been running the country’s towns and cities. Thirty-four-year-old Burhan Ahmed immigrated to the United States ten years ago. He works at the Community Refugee and Immigration Services in Columbus. Ahmed said it’s not clear to him what the agenda is of the Islamic militant group, but he said his homeland needs government.

“We need a government who can properly grant people their safety, and the basic living that we need like school systems, hospitals and roads. To bring the vision for the people in Somalia,” Ahmed said.

The U.S. and other Somali allies are concerned the Islamic group is connected with a terrorist organization, like al-Quida. They fear the militant group will turn Somalia into a breeding ground for terrorists.

Ahmed Kamil, a case worker at the community refugee center, has been in America for five and a half years. Kamil agrees that Somalia needs law makers, but not if they’re connected with al-Qaida.

“If we hear that word of, that connection with al-Qaida, Somali people will never accept them. I’m sure they will fail it,” Kamil said.

Since the Islamic militants have moved into Mogadishu, the gangs controlling the land have moved out. And Kamil said that’s a good thing for Somali people.

“At this time since warlords have run away from the city, I hope a kind of settlement will come to the Somali people, especially for the Mogadishu people. They’ve suffered a lot, suffered a lot, a lot, a lot. So, my symphathy is with them to get any kind of government that can serve them better and I hope they’ll get it,” Kamil said.

Kamil and others continue to monitor activity in Somalia.

Many local Somalis closely monitor events in their homeland through word-of-mouth and through the internet. They gather daily at the Somali community association center in northeast Columbus.

Weekdays at noon, a small group of some of Columbus’ newest residents gathers in a ground floor room of the Somali community association of Ohio on Cleveland Avenue – catty corner from Northern Lights Shopping Center. They listen to Somali language news broadcast to hear the latest happenings in Mogadishu and other world capitals.

Association president, Omar Hassan, says the Somali community in Columbus grew quickly during the mid-to-late 90s as clan warfare laid waste to the eastern African country and forced more than half of the country’s seven million residents to flee the country. Nearly 25,000 re-settled in Columbus.

The noonday gatherings at the association center include a hot meal and time to socialize. Senior counselor, Abdurrahman Gelle Duale, says the familiar language cadences and familiar faces help group members cope with language barriers.

Abdurahman Gelle Duale says many younger Somalis re-settled in Columbus adapted easily to western culture. But, many older members of the community are confronting what he calls “a lot of difficults (sic).”