Garissa Township MP Aden Duale on Monday held talks with Ilhan Omar, a former Somali refugee at the Dadaab Camp who is now the U.S Representative for Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District.
On Monday, Duale who is currently on an official trip in the U.S took to his twitter page to announce his meeting with the U.S congress woman, noting that it focused on a range of issues among the plight of refugees.
“As a member of the committee on Foreign Affairs, we discussed wide range of issues between the legislatures, matters of refuges, Kenya’s contribution to the peace, security and stability in the Horn of Africa and the fight against extremism,” Duale tweeted.
In his tweet, the Garissa lawmaker added, “Ilhan Omar is the first Somali-African, the first naturalized citizen from Africa, and the first non-white woman elected from Minnesota. She is also one of the first two Muslim women (along with @RashidTlaib)."
Ilhan contested the congress seat in the October, 2018 mini-election and won on a Democratic Party ticket.
The thirty seven-year-old spent her early years at the Dadaab Refugee camp in Garissa County where she had sought refugee after fleeing the inter-clan conflict in Somalia.
In 2008, Ilhan became the first Somali woman to win a seat in the Michigan legislature.
In 2019, she made history and became the first woman to wear hijab in the US House of Congress and is known for championing for the plight of women.