U.S. Returns to Mogadishu With Revamped Diplomatic Outpost, 25 Years After "Black Hawk Down" Battle
Saturday November 17, 2018
Amanda Sperber
THE UNITED STATES has maintained an arms-length diplomatic relationship with Somalia since two American Black Hawk helicopters were shot down in Mogadishu in 1993. But an increase in activity in recent years is set to culminate this weekend, with the quiet opening of a renovated and expanded building that will apparently serve as an unofficial U.S. embassy or consulate in Mogadishu, according to diplomatic and other sources in the city. The facility will allow for a permanent diplomatic presence in the country, a place for the U.S. to host meetings and for limited staff to be based.
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During former Secretary of State John Kerry’s surprise visit to Somalia in 2015, U.S. officials floated plans to reinstate an embassy before the end of the Obama administration’s term. A building was at least partially erected but over time the U.S. has been walking back plans for its completion. The likely factors for the delay are increased safety-guidelines instituted in the wake of the attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi in Libya, in 2012, and the continuously delicate security situation in Somalia.
The militant group al Shabaab, an Al Qaeda offshoot, is omnipresent and active in Somalia, and contributes to a high level of insecurity. Less than two weeks ago, at least 50 people were killed in dual car bombs in Mogadishu. Small-scale attacks and assassinations are a regular occurrence, and last year, al Shabaab staged a particularly bloody attack, bombing a busy junction at rush hour and killing between 500 and 1,000 people.
Since the Black Hawk incident, the U.S. has generally kept diplomatic staffers out of Somalia, while contributing significant amounts of humanitarian assistance and conducting drone strikes and airstrikes to destabilize al Shabaab, which is at war with the internationally recognized government in Mogadishu. In recent years, most U.S. diplomatic activity on the ground has consisted of day visits to the capital.
While the diplomatic footprint has been light, the U.S. has continued to bolster itself militarily in Somalia. In 2015, news broke about secret U.S. drone bases where a handful of special forces were stationed. One of those bases was at Baledogle, which has been fast expanding and is now a forward operating base with hundreds of beds. Last month, the Pentagon invested $12 million for "emergency runway repairs” there.
Reporting for this story was supported with funding from the Investigative Fund.
U.S. Returns to Mogadishu With Revamped Diplomatic Outpost, 25 Years After "Black Hawk Down" Battle
U.S. officials are reluctant to discuss the building and its intended uses; the government seems keen to indicate it is neither an embassy nor a consular office. However, in a sign of the apparent importance of the building, the new U.S. ambassador t