Washington: President Joe Biden has signed an order extending for at least another year US economic sanctions imposed on Somalia that were previously approved by presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, the White House announced in a press release.
“The situation with respect to Somalia continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” the president said on Thursday. “For this reason, the national emergency declared on April 12, 2010, and the measures adopted on that date and on July 20, 2012 … must continue in effect beyond April 12, 2021.”
Biden said he was accordingly keeping the previous Executive Order 13556 in place for the next 12 months.
In the latest example of ongoing terrorist violence in the East African country, at least five civilians were killed as a result of a car bomb attack targeting an official in the Somalian capital of Mogadishu, media outlets said on Monday.