Northern Ireland

Black Lives Matter campaigner Lilian Seenoi-Barr selected as new Derry SDLP councillor

New SDLP Derry councillor Lilian Seenoi-Barr
New SDLP Derry councillor Lilian Seenoi-Barr New SDLP Derry councillor Lilian Seenoi-Barr

REFUGEE activist and prominent Black Lives Matter campaigner Lilian Seenoi-Barr has been selected as a new SDLP councillor in Derry.

Ms Seenoi-Barr, programme manager of the North-West Migrants Forum, will represent the Foyleside area on Derry and Strabane District Council.

She replaces former councillor Mary Durkan.

A former chair of Derry and Strabane SDLP, Ms Seenoi-Barr narrowly missed out on being elected in 2019.

Ms Seenoi-Barr came to Northern Ireland from Kenya as an asylum seeker in December 2010.

She is from the minority Maasai tribe.

In Kenya, she campaigned for the rights of Maasai women and girls, particularly around female genital mutilation and early forced marriages.

She said it was "a real honour" to be selected by the SDLP.

"It should be the mission of all political leaders to address and face down inequality wherever we find it, whether it is in health waiting lists, the investment we receive or the way people are treated," she said.

"That will be my mission as a councillor."