Somalia in 2023: Wins galore abroad, big misses at home
Saturday December 23 2023
Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan (left) shakes hands with her Somalian counterpart Hassan Sheikh Mohamud during the EAC summit in Arusha, Tanzania on November 24, 2023. PHOTO | POOL
Somalia may count itself successful, or not, in 2023, depending on who you ask.
The country’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has admitted the wins on the international front have, sort of, been dampened by a sluggish push at home.
Three things happened from the end of November: Somalia joined the East African Community, becoming the eight member. Then it got its 31-year-old arms embargo imposed by the UN Security Council lifted. This was shortly followed by a debt relief announced by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), allowing Mogadishu to start negotiating new credit lines with international lenders.
“When you are indebted, you either pay or get a relief,” Mohamud said in Washington on December 13, after the decision. The negotiations for debt relief lasted a decade.
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