Flags at half-mast as Somalia mourns Mogadishu mayor’s death

MOGADISHU, Somalia – The President of Somalia Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo on Thursday declared three days of mourning following the death of Mogadishu mayor, Abdirahman Omar Osman, Garowe Online reports.

President Farmajo further ordered flags to be flown at half-mast for the three days in honor of the mayor who succumbed to wounds sustained in a female suicide attack in his office on July 24. The mourning starts on Friday, August 2.

“He will be remembered for his tireless service to the country and the people of Somalia and his commitment to the development of the city of Mogadishu and the fight against terrorism which played a significant role," he said.

The top leaders of Somalia, including PM as well as US and UN missions in Mogadishu, offered deepest condolences to the people and the family of the deceased mayor who died at a hospital in Qatar on Thursday, August 1.

He and 11 other people, who were badly injured in the bombing at Mogadishu municipality headquarters have been airlifted from Mogadishu to Doha after Qatar, sent a military air ambulance a day after the deadly attack.

At least 10 people, among them two district commissioners lost their lives and while several local government officials sustained severe wounds in the bomb attack targeted a key meeting in the mayor’s office.

His body will be brought to Mogadishu on Friday for a state funeral.

Osman, 45, who returned from the UK to rebuild his war-torn country held several posts in current and former Somali governments. He became two times an information minister before being appointed as Mogadishu mayor in 2018.

The al-Qaida allied militant group al-Shabab, which claimed responsibility for the attack, said their target was James Swan, the newly appointed special representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Somalia.

The group was ejected from the capital in 2011, and since then lost key strongholds in the south to Somali and AU troops, but, despite the defeat in the battlefields, it continues to launch deadly attacks in the country.

GAROWE ONLINE