Women who led

Dekha Ibrahim Abdi (Deeqa Ibraahim Cabdi)

Dekha Ibrahim Abdi (17 November 1964 to 14 July 2011) was a Kenyan Somali peace activist from Wajir. A founder of the Wajir Peace and Development Committee and the Coalition for Peace in Africa, she trained peacebuilders in many countries and received the Right Livelihood Award in 2007. She died after a road crash on the way to a peace conference in Garissa.

Last checked 2026-11-12 2 sources Reading time: 1 min

Dekha Ibrahim AbdiDeeqa Ibraahim Cabdi · Dekha Ibrahim

Lived
1964-11-17 to 2011-07-14
Known as one of
Women who led
Era
The Republic, 1960 to 1991; Rebuilding without a state, 1991 to 2012
Sources
2 sources

Who was she?

Dekha Ibrahim Abdi was a Kenyan peace activist of Somali ethnicity, born in Wajir on 17 November 1964 and based in Mombasa (Wikipedia, Dekha Ibrahim Abdi). She worked as a consultant to governments and civil society groups (same source). See Somalis in Kenya.

Peace work

She was a founding member of the Wajir Peace and Development Committee, the Coalition for Peace in Africa, ACTION (Action for Conflict Transformation) and the Peace and Regeneration Oasis (Wikipedia). She was a trustee of NOMADIC, a pastoralist organisation in Wajir (same source).

She trained people in peacebuilding and pastoralist development in many countries, including Somalia, Ethiopia, South Africa, Cambodia, Jordan and the United Kingdom (same source). She also worked with the group Responding to Conflict (same source).

Awards

In 2007 she received the Right Livelihood Award for showing how religious and other differences can be reconciled after violent conflict (Wikipedia; Right Livelihood Award). She also won the Gernika Peace and Reconciliation Prize in 2008 and the Hessian Peace Prize in 2009 (same source).

Death

On 7 July 2011 her car crashed into a truck on the way to a peace conference in Garissa (Wikipedia). Her husband and their driver died at the scene, and she died of her injuries in Nairobi on 14 July 2011, aged 46 (same source).

In short

A Wajir-born peacebuilder whose community model won international awards before her death in 2011.

Sources

  1. Wikipedia, Dekha Ibrahim Abdi · en.wikipedia.org
  2. Right Livelihood Award · web.archive.org

Dekha Ibrahim AbdiDeeqa Ibraahim Cabdi · Dekha Ibrahim

Lived
1964-11-17 to 2011-07-14
Known as one of
Women who led
Era
The Republic, 1960 to 1991; Rebuilding without a state, 1991 to 2012
Sources
2 sources

Toosoo!

Calankii is made by Toosoo, which works for one united, prosperous Somalia.

Can you help with Dekha Ibrahim Abdi (Deeqa Ibraahim Cabdi)? Tell us what you can give.

I want to help with this
What you can give

Only the core team sees your answer. We never share or publish it. Privacy · or email hello@calankii.com.

All the ways to help

Same era

Keep reading