Somali-American Congresswoman identified as Ilhan Omar, was used as a proxy to influence a Twitter Trend #KenyaAgression by President Mohamed Farmaajo of Somalia late Sunday and early Monday, intelligence and social media reports show. Kenya and Somalia are embroiled in a maritime row in which Somalia is laying a claim on oil and gas rich border segment of the continental shelf.
Ilhan Omar in solidarity with her motherland is certainly attempting to use her political office to further Mogadishu’s current geopolitical agenda. This is an aggressive posturing and should be monitored consistently. It is an indicator of early meddling and lobbying, all which are threats to national security. Her statement urging Mogadishu to protect enterprises from foreign aggression, citing Kenya as an example of hostile neighbor who is crippling such enterprises is alarming. That requires critical reviewing and subsequent actions, sponsored by her and her office, both in United States and Somalia, be under intelligence surveillance.
Mogadishu exploited Senator Omar as an influencer to set the Twitter trend which ran throughout Sunday and Monday. Such activities are subversive hence red-herrings to intelligence officials. A Trend is often used to whip emotions and psychologically attack perceived enemy, in this case, the Republic of Kenya. The controversial congresswoman was recently barred by the Israeli Government to visit Palestine while in United States, has come under sharp criticism for her anti-American rhetoric, forcing President Trump to tell her off and ask her to go back to Somalia.
Omar’s political activism in United States is under review. Her involvement in the current geopolitical problem between her former refuge Kenya and her parent country Somalia is interesting and worrisome at the same time. The objective of the Twitter Trend was to whip diaspora emotions and help Mogadishu gain sociopolitical leverage in the community. Diaspora has strategic influence over family and home village back home. That gives Farmaajo a head-start in his political forays.
