Recall when Obama flew the Kenyan flag high by becoming the first black American president with Kenyan genes?Well Kenya is once again surfacing in the history of Ilhan Omar the daughter of Palestinian immigrants who is among the first two Muslim women elected to the US Congress.
Omar is a one time Somali refugee.After the start of the civil war in 1991, she and her family fled the country and spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya.Omar fled Somalia’s civil war with her parents at the age of eight .
Somalia’s defeat in the Ogaden War strained the stability of the Siad regime as the country faced a surge of clan pressures. An abortive military coup in April 1978 paved the way for the formation of two opposition groups: the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF), drawing its main support from the Majeerteen clan of the Mudug region in central Somalia, and the Somali National Movement (SNM), based on the Isaaq clan of the northern regions.
But a peace accord (1988) signed with the Ethiopian leader,Mengistu Haile Mariam ,obliging each side to cease supporting Somali anti-government guerrillas, had the ironic effect of precipitating civil war in Somalia.
In October 2011, following preparatory meetings, Kenyan troops entered southern Somalia (“Operation Linda Nchi”) to fight Al-Shabaab, and to establish a buffer zone inside Somalia. Kenyan troops were formally integrated into the multinational force in February 2012. The Federal Government of Somalia was later established in August 2012, constituting the first permanent central government in the country since the start of the civil war.
Gains so far by the KDF in Somalia include pacification of sector 2, clearance of main supply routes and degradation of al Shabaab. Since 2014, they have been building the capacity of the Somali National Army (SNA) and mentoring them through joint patrols, ambushes, escorts and raids.
They are also supporting the local administration by identifying and training them to fill gaps in the provision of security and social services, such as education and medical service. So we give the people, especially the children of Somalia, hope.
KDF has successfully supported repatriation of refugees, since 2014; over 79000 have been voluntarily repatriated in Somalia. In January and March this year, we have heard 3,199 refuges destined to lower Juba, Kismayu Afmadow and Baidoa.
In 1995, Omar and her family emigrated to the United States , initially settling in Arlington, Virginia. In 1995, they moved to Minneapolis , where Ilhan fascinatingly learned English in only three months. Her father and grandfather emphasized during her upbringing the importance of democracy, and she accompanied her grandfather to caucus meetings at age 14, serving as his interpreter.
Omar attended Edison High School, and volunteered there as a student organizer. She graduated from North Dakota State University with bachelor’s degrees in political science and international studies in 2011.Omar was also Policy Fellow at the Humphrey School of Public affairs.
Both women Ilhan Omar, 37, and Rashida Tlaib, 42 are Democrats from the Midwest and outspoken advocates of minority communities that have found themselves in the sights of US President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant policies.
Omar won a House seat in a strongly Democratic district in Minneapolis, Minnesota, succeeding Keith Ellison who was himself the first Muslim ever elected to Congress.