Last week, as Marie Yovanovitch was testifying before Congress, President Trump tweeted, “Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad. She started off in Somalia, how did that go?”
Somalia was indeed one of her first posts, in the mid-1980s, when she was in her twenties. She had recently joined the Foreign Service. She was not responsible for Somalia. She was a very junior officer. Plus, the United States is not responsible for Somalia.
That country has long been wretched, afflicted by war and epidemic rape.
Yovanovitch has served mainly in very difficult posts. She has been ambassador in three countries, all of them former republics of the Soviet Union. She has been appointed by both Republican and Democratic presidents. She grew up speaking Russian.
Her father was a refugee from the Soviet Union. Her mother’s parents were refugees from the Soviet Union too, and she — the ambassador’s mother — grew up in Nazi Germany. That required another flight, i.e., another fleeing.
Two days ago, I read a headline that jolted me: “Almaas Elman, Somali-Canadian Activist, Is Shot Dead in Mogadishu.” The article said, “A Somali-Canadian aid worker and activist was shot dead on Wednesday in Mogadishu, . . . dealing a new blow to efforts by the Somali diaspora to return home and help rebuild the country after decades of war.”
I knew that name, Elman. Earlier this year, I listened to Fartuun Adan, at the Oslo Freedom Forum. I wrote,
With her husband, Elman Ali Ahmed, she worked for peace and human rights. In the early 1990s, when threats against the couple intensified, they agreed that Fartuun would flee with their children to Canada while Elman stayed behind to continue the work. In 1996, he was assassinated (by warlords).
Have a little more:
Amazingly, Fartuun returned to the country ten years later, to run a foundation named after her husband. She helps people, of various sorts, in various ways. For instance, she helps rape victims, of whom there a many. A great many. Like Congo, Somalia has a “rape culture.” “I’m a mom,” Fartuun tells us. “I have girls.”
And finally,
She has received recognition in several quarters, including the U.S. State Department, which named her an International Woman of Courage.
Yes. These people often pay with their lives. First there was Elman Ali Ahmed, and now there is his daughter Almaas Elman. What a family. I admire them a great deal. Hard to find the right words.
I think of Fartuun Adan, whose husband was murdered, and whose daughter has now met the same fate — in the same work, namely human-rights work, or peace-and-reconciliation work. Again, hard to find the words.
