Somalia Appoints Special Envoy to USA
Somali President Sheikh Sharif
President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed of Somalia has officially appointed his special envoy to the United States, a leading donor nation to Somalia, a presidential statement said on Sunday. The appointment of Abukar Addow Arman indicates that the Somali president is giving first priority to boosting the bilateral relationship between Somalia and the United States of America which has a big involvement in Somali affairs rather than any other developed nation in the world. “This crucial step forward will strengthen the cooperation between both friendly countries, Somalia and USA” carried the statement of which Newstime Africa obtained a copy.
Mr. Aman who is in his late 40’s and has been living in the United States for nearly 30 years will be Somalia’s first and officially appointed special envoy to US since Somalia descended into chaos and bloodshed in 1991. Somalia’s weak government which controls only parts of the capital Mogadishu but has the support of international community, is facing a tougher challenge from Islamist rebels with ties to Al-qaeda who want to introduce a Taliban-like style of Islamic rule into the lawless country. Somalia has lacked a functioning central government since war lords toppled former military rule of the late dictator General Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other in a power struggle that killed more than half a million people since then.
Wars in the restive capital alone have engulfed more than 20,000 people mainly civilians and displaced 1.5m others since January 2007. The United Nations is very concerned about the desperate situation in the horn or African country where about 3.5 million people nearly half of the country’s total population need emergency food assistance.
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