Lewiston's injured Fowsia Musse to return to the United States soon

Nov. 10—The executive director of Maine Community Integration, Fowsia Musse, is apparently coming home.

The organization issued a statement Thursday saying that Musse, who was shot several times in an Ethiopian airport last month during a trip to visit her mother, is in stable condition.

Thanks to more than $130,000 in donations from friends, family and the community, the nonprofit said it was able to secure an air ambulance that can transport her from a hospital in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capitol.

Musse "will arrive in the United States as soon as possible," MCI said in a Facebook update that included a nod to generous donors who funded the move.

"Thank you, thank you. A thousand times, thank you," the post concluded.

Musse and her sister, Juweria Subcis, a member of the Somali Regional State Parliament in Ethiopia who had visited Lewiston recently, were shot Oct. 25 inside Jigjiga's Garaad Wiil-waal airport by a member of the federal police force. Subcis died on the spot.

Musse and a regional cabinet official, Abdirashid Mohammed, were badly hurt in the shooting.

According to the Addis Standard, the shooting was deliberate, but the circumstances remain a mystery.

Mohamed Guray, the deputy chief of security of the Somali regional state, told the Addis Standard "there was some quarrel" between the officer and Subcis. He said the officer, who was arrested, "acted on his own" and the incident was unrelated to politics.

But the Ogaden National Liberation Front and Freedom and Equality Party issued a statement condemning the shooting and urging government officials "to stop the unconstitutional, inhuman and indiscriminate use of excessive force and live ammunition against unarmed civilians."

Protests followed by Somalis who complained they are often targeted for abuse by Ethiopian officers and authorities, but they appear to have calmed down.

The communications office of the Somali Regional State issued a statement after the arrest assuring residents "that the person who killed" Subcis "will be held accountable for his actions."

Musse was shot in the stomach and hip. Doctors amputated her leg after several surgeries failed to stem an infection.