Monday December 26, 2022
Garowe (HOL) - U.S. congresswoman Ilhan Omar arrived in Mogadishu on Sunday to meet with Somali government authorities.
Congresswoman Omar spent the past two days in Puntland's regional capital, Garowe.
The first deputy speaker of the Lower House of the Somali parliament, MP Sadia Yasin Samatar, Minister for Women and Human Rights Development (MoWHRD), Khadijo Mohamed Diriye other government officials welcomed her at Mogadishu's Adan Adde International Airport.
According to reports, Ilhan Omar planned to visit Bosaso after finishing her visit to Garowe but was barred from visiting the coastal town of Bosaso.
Omar denied reports that the Puntland President barred her from visiting Bosaso, a seaside city in northeastern Somalia.
According to local media, Deni instructed Ilhan Omar to avoid coming to Bosaso so she would avoid meeting with lawmakers and traditional leaders with whom he disagrees.
"I did not visit Bosaso because I did not have enough time during," she says, adding that there was no reason preventing her from visiting the town.
Ilhan Omar, who was just re-elected to the United States Congress for the third time, travelled to Somalia to learn more about Puntland's upcoming one-person, one-vote elections in 2023.