Embassy of the United States, Mogadishu
| Embassy of the United States, Mogadishu | |
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The former embassy compound in 1992, shortly after it was assigned as the headquarters for US personnel within UNITAF.
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| Location |
Mogadishu, Somalia 1989 embassy: 2°2′9.6″N 45°17′41.2″E / 2.036000°N 45.294778°ECoordinates: 2°2′9.6″N 45°17′41.2″E / 2.036000°N 45.294778°E Old embassy (1957–1989): 2°2′9.4″N 45°20′40.5″E / 2.035944°N 45.344583°E |
| Opened | July 1, 1960 (upgraded from Consulate-General, which had opened July 1, 1957) |
| Closed | January 5, 1991 |
 Location of Embassy of the United States, Mogadishu in Somalia
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The Embassy of the United States of America to Somalia was a diplomatic mission of the United States in Mogadishu, Somalia from 1960 to 1991. In 1957, the US opened a Consulate-General in Mogadishu—the capital of the Trust Territory of Somalia, a UN trusteeship under Italian administration. The consulate was upgraded to embassy status in July 1960, when the US recognized Somalia's independence and appointed an ambassador. The embassy served to counter Soviet influence during the Cold War and also served as a base for the United States Agency for International Development, which had a large presence in the country. In 1989, the embassy moved from a dilapidated building in central Mogadishu to a new compound on the outskirts of the city.
Violence quickly enveloped the city in late December 1990, during the Somali Civil War, and on 1 January 1991, the ambassador contacted the State Department to request the closure and evacuation of the embassy. Approval was given the following day, but violence and the collapse of the central government prevented the US, and several other countries, from airlifting their diplomats and civilians through Mogadishu International Airport. The USS Guam and USS Trenton, which were stationed off the coast of Oman, were dispatched to airlift staff from the embassy; American civilians and many foreign diplomats also gathered at the embassy, seeking evacuation. The embassy closed on January 5, 1991 and 281 American and foreign diplomats and civilians were airlifted by helicopter from the embassy compound to Guam and Trenton.
In December 1992, the embassy compound was reoccupied and repaired to serve as a headquarters for US personnel within the Unified Task Force and, following the transition to UN control, a base for UNOSOM. The US worked with various parties in Somalia to establish peace and formally recognized the newly established Federal Government of Somalia in January 2013. In May 2015, US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Somalia and stated that the US plans to reopen its embassy soon; the Somali government presented him with the real estate deed for land reserved for the new US embassy compound in Mogadishu. The move came three months after President Obama nominated Katherine Dhanani to the post of US ambassador to Somalia, who would have been the first US ambassador to Somalia since 1991, but she withdrew three months later.
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