Somalia’s Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre on Monday held a welcoming ceremony for visiting US congresswoman Ilhan Omar, days after arriving in the country.
She has been in the northern autonomous Somali region of Puntland where she was born after short stay in Nairobi.
Speaking at the ceremony, Ilhan said she had been warned of traveling to Somalia due to spiraling insecurity and attacks by insurgents, adding that she was informed that car bomb assaults and explosions taking place in the city have doubled recently.
The US congresswoman commended Somali authorities for taking crucial steps towards progress.
She commended election reforms ongoing across the country and the path to democratization of all areas of the country.
Ilhan, whose welcoming ceremony was attended by senior officials of the Somali government said the Somali government has made numerous progress.
The congresswoman said she will be supporting the Federal government efforts aimed at bringing service delivery to hundreds in the country. .
The Somali American left as a child and lived for years in the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya before moving to the United States in 1997.
She is the first Somali-American woman to become a lawmaker in the U.S., where she is serving as a Minnesota state representative for the third time.
Omar lives in the city of Minneapolis, which is home to the greatest concentration of Somali immigrants in the United States.
Minneapolis-St. Paul also has a large Oromo population, among significant communities coming from Ethiopia, Kenya and other nations.
Omar, serving as Director of Policy Initiatives at Women Organizing Women, has a long history of public service and other achievements within the community.
