Biden to announce new U.S. ambassador to Somalia

The United States Department of State threatened to sanction and travel restriction against Somali President Farmajo after he has signed a controversial bill extending his term in office by two years.

News Keydmedia Online
16 April 2021

WASHINGTON, USA - As Joe Biden ticks off items on his lengthy to-do list, CNN reported, citing an internal list that Larry André will be the next U.S. ambassador to Somalia in the coming weeks, replacing Donald Yamamoto.

Yamamoto has been leading the American diplomatic mission in Mogadishu since 2018.

André who is a long-serving diplomat has recently served as the United States Ambassador to Djibouti from 2017 to 2021. His appointment comes amid a deepened political crisis in Somalia.

Under Donald Trump's administration, the U.S. reopened its embassy in Somalia in December 2018, nearly 28 years after it shut down as the Horn of Africa country plunged into civil war in 1991.

The U.S. remains a strong partner to Somalia in its effort to defeat Al-Shabaab and help the country in rebuilding the national army. But now Washington expressed disappointment over Farmajo’s autocracy.

The United States Department of State threatened to sanction and travel restriction against Somali President Farmajo after he has signed a controversial bill extending his term in office by two years.

The move which Senate termed as the unconstitutional heightened political temperature in Mogadishu as the donors voiced concern about the turmoil and warned it could hamper the hardly-won security gains.

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