What Donald Trump gets wrong about Somalia

President Donald Trump is making Somali-American congresswoman Ilhan Omar one of the bogeywomen of his campaign for re-election to the White House in November – and by proxy her country of birth, Somalia.

In his most recent attack, at a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he tore into the 37-year-old alleging that she wanted to bring the “anarchy” of Somalia to the US.

“She would like to make the government of our country just like the country from where she came – Somalia. No government, no safety, no police, no nothing, just anarchy. And now, she’s telling us how to run our country. No, thank-you.”

Ms Omar, who arrived in the US as a child refugee in 1995, is the congressional representative for Minnesota, which includes the city of Minneapolis where African-American George Floyd was killed by police in May, reigniting Black Lives Matter protests.

But it was Ms Omar’s Somali heritage the president chose to focus on in Tulsa, perhaps to distract from all the turmoil and unrest closer to home.

In response Ms Omar said his remarks were “racist”. She added that his anger came out of a recent poll that had shown him trailing his rival, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, in her state, which is home to a large Somali-American community.

The president described Ms Omar as a “hate-filled, American-bashing socialist”, warning she would have a role in shaping the country if Mr Biden were to win.

This is despite the fact that the pair are on opposite ends of the Democratic Party – Ms Omar had been a prominent supporter of Bernie Sanders to win the Democratic ticket.

But such rhetoric plays well to his base, so the electoral stage has been set, the cast chosen – and Ms Omar and Somalia have starring roles.

In fact they both debuted last year at Mr Trump’s rally in North Carolina, where the crowd chanted about Ms Omar: “Send her back! Send her back!”

It echoed the “lock her up” phrase adopted by his supporters against his rival Hillary Clinton in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.

Ms Omar, who is a fierce critic of the president, had been in hot water at the time – censured by both Democrats and Republicans – for stoking stereotypes about Jews and had apologised for tweets implying US lawmakers only support Israel because of lobby money.

Republican Senator Rand Paul had offered to buy a plane ticket for the “ungrateful” Ms Omar to go to Somalia. He suggested she should return to get a better appreciation for the United States.

A one-time Republican runs Somalia

It seems Mr Trump’s view of Somalia stems from the aftermath of the overthrow of Siad Barre in 1991, since when it has popularly been considered one of the world’s most failed states.

This label has stubbornly stuck even as the situation has improved in the country.

While Mr Trump imagines that Somalia has no laws, no police and no government, this is far from the reality on the ground.

A UN-backed government is making small steps in rebuilding the country and tackling Islamist militants – helped by the many Somalis in the diaspora returning home.

Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed gave up his US citizenship to become Somalia’s president/AFP

This includes current President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, popularly known as “Farmajo”, who was a registered Republican in Buffalo and gave up his US citizenship to run the country in 2017.

And the breakaway republic of Somaliland, which has held successive free and fair elections – and, even though it is not a recognised state, is the strongest democracy in the Horn of Africa.

Perhaps the view of Somalia for Mr Trump and his supporters is still tarnished by events in 1993 – one of the most important American foreign interventions in Africa, when US troops launched a disastrous raid in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, to capture a powerful warlord.

Two US Black Hawk helicopters were shot down, and 18 US soldiers and more than 500 Somalis were killed in the battle.