.jpg)
Tina Kaidanow, the US anti-terrorism coordinator with Somali President and his Prime Minister
Hiiraan Online
Friday, June 5, 2015
MOGADISHU (HOL) — As the United States government has recently ramped up its involvement in Somalia since it appointed an ambassador for the horn of Africa nation after more than two decades of war, the security gains seem to be more encouraging than before for the Obama administration which supports the anti-militants war in Somalia.
Tina Kaidanow, the US anti-terrorism coordinator who arrived in the Somali capital on Thursday to hold talks with Somali leaders said her government was fully committed to supporting Somalia to restore its economic and development infrastructure, saying things are going ‘well’ in contrast to the previous situation in Somalia.
She suggested that Somalia has a good chance to turn around to make a state-building plan, calling Somali leaders to work towards the country’s political stability.
Speaking to the reporters after meeting with the US official, Somalia’s president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud denoted his country’s security gains, urging a closer collaboration with the US to restore peace and order into the long-chaotic nation.
The United States has been a key ally for Somalia since the collapse of the central government in 1991 and maintained its ties with Somalia.
As a gesture of the deepening relations between Washington and Mogadishu and faith in Somalia's stabilization efforts, the United States has last year announced it would reopen its diplomatic mission in Mogadishu at an unspecified future date.
President Barack Obama has also nominated Foreign Service veteran Katherine Simonds Dhanani to become the new Ambassador of the United States to Somalia. Dhanani later withdrew her nomination in May, citing personal reasons.
In addition to that, US Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Mogadishu in May, announcing a preliminary plan to reestablish the US embassy in Mogadishu in recognition of the sociopolitical progress made in Somalia and its return to effective governance.
He indicated that although there was no set timetable for the premises' relaunch, the US government had immediately begun upgrading its diplomatic representation in the country.