Kenya: Somali elder wants to meet Obama

M. Mohamed Hbadan Mumin, a former Wajir County peacekeeper who dressed former US President Barack Obama in Somali traditional attire in 2006, is now looking to meet him.

Yesterday, Mr. Obama had talks with President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga before traveling to his father's ancestral home at K & # 0; Ogelo.

During Mr. Obama's visit to Wajir County in 2006, while he was a senator from Illinois, Mr. Mumin dressed him in Barber and Somali dress, Barki (traditional pillow) and a cane. The images of the occasion were then used by the opponents of Mr. Obama to describe him as a radical Muslim whose name was similar to that of Osama bin Laden

which elicited mixed reactions Kenyans, the elders of Wajir County demanding an apology. from the US government. Mr. Mumin was then chairman of the Al-Fatah peace group.

In an exclusive interview with the Nation, Mumin said previous efforts to meet Obama during his visit to the country as US President have failed. He said that he had gone to the office of the US ambbadador to Nairobi, but that his wishes were not respected.

"I blessed Mr. Obama when he was a senator and he ended up governing America for two terms.He is known to be the leader of peace in such global hotspots as Syria, Palestine, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Somalia.