Obama approves credentials of new Somalia ambassador to US

President Barack Obama formally welcomed Somalia’s new envoy to the US, Ahmed Issa Awad to Washington on Thursday afternoon when he presented his letters of credence at a ceremony in the White House.
Mr Awad was among several ambassadors-designate who presented their papers to President Obama in the Oval Office at a traditional credentialing event, which marks the formal beginning of an envoy’s service in Washington.
Ambassador Awad’s accreditation marks the beginning of a new career as he becomes the head of a mission, which had been without a substantive ambassador for close to one year since current Somalia Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid left the post in December last year.
Two weeks ago, the US government launched its mission to Somalia after closing its embassy in Mogadishu in 1991. The embassy is opened in neighbouring Kenya due to the fragile security situation in the Somali capital.
In 2013, the United States government formally recognised the federal government of Somalia following decades of civil war.
In May, John Kerry became the first-ever U.S Secretary of State and also the first highest-ranking American official to visit Somalia since 1993.
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