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Prominent Somali Woman Lawmaker Among 15 Killed in Bombing

A young boy runs past the wreckage of a vehicle destroyed in an attack on police and checkpoints on the outskirts of the capital Mogadishu, Somalia Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022. (AP File Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)
A young boy runs past the wreckage of a vehicle destroyed in an attack on police and checkpoints on the outskirts of the capital Mogadishu, Somalia Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022. (AP File Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)
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Prominent Somali Woman Lawmaker Among 15 Killed in Bombing

A young boy runs past the wreckage of a vehicle destroyed in an attack on police and checkpoints on the outskirts of the capital Mogadishu, Somalia Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022. (AP File Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)
A young boy runs past the wreckage of a vehicle destroyed in an attack on police and checkpoints on the outskirts of the capital Mogadishu, Somalia Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022. (AP File Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

A prominent Somali woman lawmaker is among at least 15 people killed in a suicide bombing that hit a polling station in rural central Somalia, police said Thursday.

The attack took place late Wednesday in the town of Beledweyne, the capital of Somalia's Hiran region.

Among its victims was opposition lawmaker Amina Mohamed Abdi, an outspoken government critic who was campaigning to retain her seat in the National Assembly.

Al-Shabab, Somalia's extremist rebel group, claimed responsibility for the attack. The 15 people killed were “mostly civilians” and the attack wounded “an unspecific number" of people, police officer Ahmed Hassan told AP by phone.

“I was at a walking distance to the polling station when a suicide bomber rushed towards the member of parliament Amina and embraced her and blew himself up," eyewitness Dhaqane Hassan said. “Shots were fired in the air by the soldiers who seemed shocked, but unfortunately she instantly died at the scene.”

Abdi, the legislator killed at a polling station, was in Beledweyne campaigning for re-election in a vote expected to take place this week.

“Somalia has lost a promising giant leader, an activist, a fearless advocate who finally paid the ultimate price for seeking justice for Ikram Tahlil," said lawmaker Abdirizak Mohamed, speaking of a female intelligence officer whose killing Abdi had been trying to investigate.

President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed and Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble condemned the attack.

Two other extremist attacks occurred in Beledweyne Wednesday, killing former lawmaker Hassan Dhuhul, a traditional elder and civilians sitting outside a busy restaurant, police said. No more details were immediately available on those attacks.

The attacks in Beledweyne came hours after an attack in the capital, Mogadishu, in which two al-Shabab gunmen tried to force their way into the international airport in the capital.

Somali forces and African Union peacekeepers said they ended that assault by killing both the attackers. At least six people were killed in that attack, including at least one African Union peacekeeper, according to police. Authorities did not reveal the identities of the victims.

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UN: Only 17% of Targets to Improve Life Around the World Are Likely to be Reached by 2030

(FILES) The homeless tents near the Little Earth housing project is along Cedar and Hiawatha Avenues in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on October 23, 2018. (Photo by Kerem Yucel / AFP)
(FILES) The homeless tents near the Little Earth housing project is along Cedar and Hiawatha Avenues in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on October 23, 2018. (Photo by Kerem Yucel / AFP)
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UN: Only 17% of Targets to Improve Life Around the World Are Likely to be Reached by 2030

(FILES) The homeless tents near the Little Earth housing project is along Cedar and Hiawatha Avenues in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on October 23, 2018. (Photo by Kerem Yucel / AFP)
(FILES) The homeless tents near the Little Earth housing project is along Cedar and Hiawatha Avenues in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on October 23, 2018. (Photo by Kerem Yucel / AFP)

The United Nations warned Friday that only 17% of its 169 targets to improve life for the world’s more than 7 billion people are on track to be reached by the 2030 deadline.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres launched the annual report saying, “It shows the world is getting a failing grade,” The Associated Press reported.
World leaders adopted the 17 wide-ranging development goals from ending global poverty to achieving gender equality in 2015, and set 169 specific targets to be reached by the end of the decade.
According to the report, nearly half the targets show minimal or moderate progress and over one-third are stalled or regressing — with just 17% are on track to be achieved.
“The takeaway is simple,” Guterres said. “Our failure to secure peace, to confront climate change, and to boost international finance is undermining development.”
The report also cited the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and said an additional 23 million people were pushed into extreme poverty and over 100 million more were suffering from hunger in 2022 compared to 2019.
“In a world of unprecedented wealth, knowledge and technologies, the denial of basic needs for so many is outrageous and unacceptable,” Guterres said.
On the downside, the U.N. reported that for the first time this century, per-capita GDP growth in half of the world’s most vulnerable nations is slower than that of advanced economies, threatening improvements in equality. And in 2022, it said, nearly 60% of countries faced moderate to abnormally high food prices.
The goal of quality education is far offtrack. Only 58% of students worldwide achieved minimum proficiency in reading by the end of primary school, and “recent assessments reveal a significant decline in math and reading scores in many countries,” the report said.
As for gender equality, it said the world continues to lag: One in five girls still marry before age 18, violence against women persists, far too many women don’t have the right to decide on their sexual and reproductive health — and at current rates it will take 176 years for women to reach parity with men in management positions.
Guterres said the report also has “some glimmers of hope.”
Mobile broadband is accessible to 95% of the world’s population, up from 78% in 2015. Global capacity to generate electricity from renewable has been expanding at an unprecedented 8.1% annually for past five years, the report said.
Increased access to treatment has averted 20.8 million AIDS-related deaths in the past three decades. New malaria vaccines being rolled out could save millions of lives. Girls in most regions are now achieving parity with boys in education. And many women are breaking glass ceilings, it said.
“But the speed and scale of the change needed for sustainable development is still far too slow,” Guterres said.
He called for action to end wars from Gaza to Ukraine, Sudan and beyond, “and to pivot from spending on destruction and war to investing in people and peace.”
The secretary-general also called for greater action to combat climate change and on “the green and digital transitions.”
According to the report, there is a $4 trillion annual gap in the investments needed to help developing countries reach the sustainable development goals.
Guterres called for stepped-up efforts to deliver the resources and also to reduce debt pressures and debt servicing costs, to expand access to contingency financing for countries at risk of a cash flow crisis, and to multiply the lending capacity of the World Bank and other development banks.
“We must not let up on our promises — to end poverty, protect the planet and leave no one behind,” the secretary-general said.