Int’l community hails united peace efforts

The international community hailed on Tuesday efforts by local Somali elders and business people to mediate for a peaceful solution in the troubled region of central Somalia.

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama has nominated a career diplomat to be the first US ambassador to Somalia in nearly 25 years, filling a post that has been vacant since the Horn of Africa country collapsed into chaos in 1991, forcing the closure of the US embassy.

Obama on Tuesday tapped Foreign Service veteran Katherine Simonds Dhanani for the job, which will be based in neighboring Kenya until security conditions permit the embassy in the Somali capital of Mogadishu to reopen, the US State Department said.

Dhanani, currently director of regional and security affairs in the department’s Africa bureau, has previously served in India, Mexio and Guyana, and has significant African experience, having been posted in Zimbabwe, Gabon, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo.

In a statement issued in Mogadishu, the United Nations, the Africa Union, the US, the European Union and the Eastern Africa regional body Intergovern- mental Authority on Development said they were impressed by the steps taken by local leaders to restore calm in the Guricel region of Central Somalia which has experienced clan fighting that has claimed many lives.

The international community also expressed concern about the humanitarian impact and loss of life stemming from the conflict and called upon all parties to refrain from violence.

More than 30 people were killed in late January in Guricel when fighting erupted between two clans.

The international community also called for a collaborative process toward state formation in central Somalia.

“We look forward to the conclusion of the valuable Dhusamareb reconciliation conference, and look forward to the swift launch of the state formation conference in Adado,” they said.

Somalia has been ravaged by conflict and instability since the ouster of leader Mohammed Siad Barre 24 years ago.

The current government is continuing to battle the al-Qaida affiliated al-Shabab militant group, which has staged attacks around east Africa and earlier this week threatened shopping malls in the United States and other Western countries.