US Recognizes Somalia

Last Thursday, the United States Government recognized the Somali government for the first time in over 20 years. Somalia, known as one of Africa's most horrifically failed states, seems to be on the upswing, with a new Parliament electing a new President in September and quite a few AU troop successes pushing out Islamist forces from the capital and elsewhere.

Somalia

Over the past four years, the US has provided over 1 billion USD in indirect aid to Somalia. This now means that US aid can go directly to the country, in a strong show of support for the administration of President Mohamud.

President Mohamud

Random Kate Thoughts: I wrote about Somalia and President Hassan Mohamud several times back in September, for when he was elected, almost assassinated, and then inaugurated. It is great that his government has done enough to prove to the US that this is the one to support. American recognition of a country is one of the most important things a state can get. We recently enrolled our first student ever from Somaliland, a self-governing autonomous region within Somalia, which is not recognized by the US. That lack of recognition from the international community has weakened the country greatly, even though it is a relatively well-functioning and well-governed region, unlike the rest of the country. That lack of recognition delayed our student for FIVE MONTHS, because his Somaliland passport created a huge amount of confusion here in South Africa. Apparently Somaliland passports are counterfeited in Yemen, which means that "real" ones are rarely taken seriously. After five months, our student finally made it to school. And we're not giving him back. If the US recognized Somaliland, and another high-functioning region within Somalia called Puntland, we would potentially do a great deed for the people there and support functioning governments there. That said, I hope that President Mohamud manages to unite the country. It's a big task ahead of him, and the US definitely does not want another Black Hawk Down.

Somali child wrapped in US flag