Amina Mohamed Abdi (Aamina Maxamed Cabdi)

Who was she?

Amina Mohamed Abdi was a member of Somalia's Federal Parliament from 2012 until her death in 2022, as a member of the opposition Union for Peace and Development party (Wikipedia, Amina Mohamed Abdi; VOA Learning English, 23 January 2021). VOA described her as a young lawmaker fighting corruption (same source).

Early life

She went to school in Mogadishu. Reuters reported that, as an eight-year-old, she came home from school to find her house empty and her family gone as fighting broke out; she later lived with an uncle who was himself an MP (Reuters, 18 January 2021). Wikipedia gives her clan as Hawiye, Gaaljecel (Wikipedia).

In parliament

In 2012 she stood for a seat reserved for women and won it against two other candidates (Reuters, 18 January 2021). In the 2016 election she won an open seat for Hiiraan (same source). Her name is in the parliament's 2017 member list (Members of the 10th Federal Parliament).

In early 2021 she was preparing to defend her seat against five men (Reuters), but the vote was delayed by disputes over how it would run (Al Jazeera, 10 February 2021). She called for an investigation into the disappearance of intelligence officer Ikran Tahlil Farah (The Guardian, 24 March 2022).

Death

On 23 March 2022 an al-Shabaab suicide bomber attacked the vehicle carrying her and her guards in Beledweyne while she was campaigning for re-election. A second car bomb went off as the wounded were brought to hospital (The Guardian, 24 March 2022). She was killed, aged 40. The regional leader said 48 people died in the twin bombings (Reuters, "Death toll from twin Somalia bombings rises to 48"). See The Beledweyne and Mogadishu attacks of 2022.

In short

A Hiiraan MP from 2012 to 2022 who spoke against corruption and was killed in the Beledweyne bombing while campaigning.