Somalia: Shock And condemnation as peace activist is killed

Somalia is not a new place for violent deaths. For the past 17 plus years, countless Somali civilians have been victims of atrocious, unspeakable violence. For the most part, their identities and histories remain forever anonymous from the public, except for grieving family members attempting to makes sense of a cruel existence. But even in Somalia, there are some killings that truly traumatize a war-weary peoples' conscience, like the targeted assassination of long-time peace activist Mohamed Hassan Kulmiye on June 22 by unidentified gunmen. The killers -- reportedly three young men -- all escaped and local authorities in the central town of Beletwein have little evidence to pursue the perpetrators of this horrendous crime. Kulmiye was the central regions director for the Center for Research and Development (CRD), a local non-governmental organization that promotes peaceful coexistence in Somalia. As such, Kulmiye was in charge of CRD operations in key regions, including Hiran, Galgadud and Mudug, according to CRD Jibril Ibrahim Abdulle. The late victim was a trained engineer who once served as assistant lecturer at Somali National University in the capital, Mogadishu. During the 1990s, Kulmiye worked with various United Nations organizations from his home base in Beletwein as a consultant engineer. He was working with CRD since 2005 and is credited with taking a leading role in helping resolve matters among feuding clan militias. Kulmiye helped organize and attend many local peace conferences, where community elders and militia fighters were instructed about the value of peace and the benefits of compromise. Yet, for all his heroic and humane deeds, Kulmiye was targeted in what Interpeace has called a "cowardly act." In a June 23 press release, INTERPEACE stated: "The tragic deaths of Engineer Kulmiye and other heroes of peace in the Somali region are solemn testaments to the extraordinary struggle of the Somali peace activists." Other recent killings have shocked the Somali people, including the fatal shooting of BBC reporter Nasteh Dahir and the brutal assassination of humanitarian worker Ahmed Bariyow, who was director of the Horn Relief aid agency. In Somalia, where scores die each day from bullets and poverty, the tragic deaths of individuals who promote peace and society's wellbeing is another mortal blow to the hopes of restoring normalcy to the war-torn Horn of Africa country. The country is facing one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with an estimated 2.5 million people in need of assistance, according to UN estimates. Political violence continues to rage, especially in Mogadishu where more than half the city population fled since early 2007.