One Somali security officer told News24 that she was hit by a stray bullet, although this is yet to be fully confirmed. Many are also reporting that this was a targeted assassination.
One Somali security officer told News24 that she was hit by a stray bullet, although this is yet to be fully confirmed. Many are also reporting that this was a targeted assassination.
A prominent peace activist and sister of the Nobel Peace Prize nominee Ilwad Elman, Almaas Elman, was shot and killed in the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Wednesday. While the details surrounding her death are still being uncovered, Somalia and the world remain in shock at her untimely death.
According to reports from the Somali news site Hiiraan, Elman was riding in her care in the Halane compound of Mogadishu, inside the area surrounding the airport. This complex is also the headquarters of the African Union soldiers. One Somali security officer told News24 that she was hit by a stray bullet, although this is yet to be fully confirmed. Many are also reporting that this was a targeted assassination.
Stop calling it the killing of #Almaselman
it was an ASSASSINATION.In a Well protected area like Halane can't finger point at AS as you usually do.
Ask God to let her soul rest in peace and expose her killers.— هبة شوكري Hiba Shookari (@hibashookari) November 20, 2019
Elman was on her way to attend a meeting at the Elman Peace Centre, which was founded by her father Elman Ali Ahmed, a prominent Somali peace activist who was assassinated in 1996. Elman, alongside her sister and family, are also Canadian citizens after being granted asylum in the early 1990s during the Somali Civil War.
The Elman family has paid heavy price. Father Ahmed Ali Elman was killed by warlords in 1996 for his campaign against warlordism.
Almas was killed today. She was cut from the same cloth, took after her father. A brave social activist.
A light has been snuffed out. RIP pic.twitter.com/Bx6ZfdoZR0
— Rashid Abdi (@RAbdiCG) November 20, 2019
Working alongside her sister and mother, Elman was helping run the family foundation, a leading organization and non-profit in Somalia that promotes peace, empowers marginalized communities, and helps build the next generation of Somalia’s leaders. Elman was also the first secretary at the Somali embassy in Kenya.
https://twitter.com/AbdiwahabSomali/status/1197178942244962304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1197178942244962304&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.okayafrica.com%2Fres%2Fcommunity%2Ftwitter_embed%2F%3Fiframe_id%3Dtwitter-embed-1197178942244962304%26created_ts%3D1574264676.0%26screen_name%3DAbdiwahabSomali%26text%3DWhen%2Bever%2Ba%2Bbright%2Byoung%2Bperson%2Bis%2Bkilled%2Bin%2B%2523Mogadishu%252C%2Bpart%2Bof%2Bme%2Bdies%252C%2Bslowly.%2B%250A%2523AlmasElman%2527s%2Bultimate%2Bkilling%2Bt%25E2%2580%25A6%2Bhttps%253A%252F%252Ft.co%252FsR2kVyFUlp%26id%3D1197178942244962304%26name%3DAbdiwahab%2BM%2BAli
As the world remains in shock at her untimely death, many are demanding clear answers surrounding the events that lead up to Wednesday. As of how, many are mourning another loss in the Elman family, and hope that the work that she and her father so tirelessly gave their lives for will someday see full peace and prosperity restored to Mogadishu.