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The United States has reestablished a diplomatic presence in Somalia for the first time since it closed its embassy in 1991.
According to Heather Nauert, United States on December 2, re-established a permanent diplomatic presence in Somalia. The embassy that was closed on January 5th 1991 has been reopened with aim to improve the political situation in Somalia.
Nauert explained that the reopening of the US embassy reflects on the improving political situation in Somalia and indicates the US commitment to strengthen democracy and economic development there.
The US closed its embassy in Somalia after the country’s central government collapsed in 1991 as a result of the conflict with armed rebel groups.
In 2004, The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of the Republic of Somalia was established in an attempt to restore national institutions to Somalia. This was internationally recognized and its support in Somalia was weakening until the United States-backed 2006 intervention by the Ethiopian military, which helped drive out the rival Islamic Courts Union (ICU) in Mogadishu and solidify the TFG’s rule.
Following this defeat, the ICU splintered into several different factions. Some of the more radical elements, including Al-Shabaab, regrouped to continue their insurgency against the TFG and the Ethiopian military’s presence in Somalia.
In February 2007, the United Nations Security Council authorized the African Union to deploy a peacekeeping mission in support of Somalia’s Transitory Federal Institutions (TFIs) hence the deployment of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).
These African peacekeepers played a role in combating al-Shabab, one of the world’s deadliest insurgencies in key sectors including protecting political VIPs in Somalia, building the country’s new National Security Forces, supporting various electoral processes, and facilitating humanitarian assistance which has brought Somalia to near-stability. This led to the adoption a provisional Constitution as well as an establishment of a new Federal Parliament and Presidency that were recognized by the United States in 2013.
It should be noted that the US diplomatic mission for Somalia in previous years has been attached to the US Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya but its reestablishment according to Nauert will see growth in various sectors and institutions of the newly recognized government and help in continuing to eliminate the Al-shabab in the areas that are not yet fully claimed.
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