Sunday September 21, 2025
Mogadishu (HOL) — Somali Defense Minister Ahmed Moallim Fiqi
has publicly expressed support for U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota
after U.S. President Donald Trump attacked her Somali roots.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, Fiqi wrote: “If our daughter is being
targeted for her identity, I will stand firmly with her. As the Somali Defense
Minister, I am making it clear that I stand with Ilhan.”
He described Omar as “a role model for society,” praising
her for achieving success “without relying on anyone,” and argued that critics
have no right to “blame or insult Somalia because of where she was born.”
The statement came after U.S. President Donald Trump
launched a new round of attacks on Omar, renewing calls for her impeachment and
assailing Somalia in remarks made Thursday. His comments followed a narrow vote
in the U.S. House of Representatives that blocked a Republican resolution to
censure the Minnesota Democrat.
Trump also criticized Omar’s Somali roots, posting on Truth
Social: “Somalia is consistently ranked among the World’s Most Corrupt
Countries, including Bribery, Embezzlement, and a Dysfunctional Government. All
of this, and Ilhan Omar tells us how to run America!”
This is not the first time Trump has targeted Omar. In 2019,
he told her and three other Democratic congresswomen of color to “go back” to
the countries they came from, remarks widely condemned as racist. At a rally
later that year, his supporters chanted “send her back” as Trump criticized
Omar from the stage.