The KULMIYE party chairman, Ahmed Mohammed Mohamoud Silanyo, on Monday
attended a dinner banquet hosted in his honour in which
he was presented with honorary plaque by Ahmed Omer, mayor of the London Borough
of Tower Hamlets.
The event, sponsored by the local Somali businesses and
community organisations, was attended by several traditional leaders as well as
local Somali community representatives from across London.
Silanyo said: “ It is an honour for me to attend this great dinner tonight and to be presented with such a gift. None of you, I think, was in this country in 1957 when as a young student I used to visit regularly Somali seafarers living in the docklands of Tower Hamlets”.
“I never thought that one day, one of their children [the seafarers] will grow up to be a mayor and present me this gift [plaque]. I congratulate the mayor for becoming the first ever Somali mayor in the UK”.
Silanyo has already visited several European countries and towns in the United Kingdom. With a very tight schedule, he was nevertheless able to attend dinner with Somali community members in Tower Hamlets.
Tower Hamlets marked a historic occasion in May 2009 with the confirmation of Ahmed Omer as the first Somali mayor in the UK, making him the borough’s forty-fifth mayor at the age of 45.
There are currently more than 10,000 Somali Britons living in Tower Hamlets.