US President Joe Biden today approved the deployment of several hundred US troops in Somalia, two US officials said.
His Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, had ordered the withdrawal of US troops from the country. Prior to the withdrawal, about 700 US troops were stationed in Somalia to assist local forces against al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents.
“President Biden has approved a request by the Department of Defense to re-establish a US presence in Somalia to enable a more effective response to the Shebab,” a senior official said. “This is a redeployment of forces coming and going in Somalia from time to time after the previous government decided to withdraw,” he added.
Shebab seeks to overthrow the government and establish its own regime in Somalia, based on a rigid interpretation of Islamic law, Sharia. It often launches bombings in Mogadishu and elsewhere.
Although the United States has not had troops in Somalia since Trump ordered their withdrawal in December 2020, the US military has occasionally launched strikes against Islamists. US troops are also stationed in many neighboring countries.
Somalia’s parliament on Sunday elected a new president, 66-year-old Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, a former university professor who has vowed to turn this volatile country plagued by a long-running political crisis and threatened with famine into a “peaceful” country. maintains friendly relations with the whole world.
“We have to move forward, we do not need resentment. No to revenge,” Mohammadi said in a speech at the Mogadishu airport, which was guarded by African Union blue-collar workers.
These elections were considered crucial for the economic future of Somalia, where 71% of the population lives on less than 1.80 euros a day.
The International Monetary Fund had warned that the $ 400 million bailout would automatically end on May 17 if no government was formed. The outgoing government had requested at the end of April that this deadline be extended for three months, without receiving a response.
The country of 15 million people is facing one of the worst droughts in decades and aid organizations fear a famine similar to that of 2011, when 260,000 people died.
SOURCE: AMPE
Source: Capital
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