Trump extends emergency order declaring Somalia threat to U.S security

The Trump administration has extended for one year the national emergency order declaring the situation in Somalia ‘extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States’.

The White House issued the declaration Wednesday noting President Trump had extended Executive order 13536 of 2010 for a further one year.

“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 notice read in part.

The United States, then headed by President Barack Obama declared the situation in Somalia a threat to its national security and foreign policy following what it termed as deterioration of the security situation and persistence of violence in Somalia.

The Obama Presidency also cited acts of piracy and robbery at the sea off the coast of Somalia in addition to the violations of the arms embargo imposed by the UN in 1992 as a ground for the executive order.

The Order was revised in 2012 under Executive Order 13620 to expand scope covering exports of charcoal from Somalia which generated revenue for the militant group Al-Shabaab.

The new order also covered ‘the misappropriation of Somali public assets; and certain acts of violence committed against civilians in Somalia, all of which contribute to the deterioration of the security situation and the persistence of violence in Somalia’.

The extension came as Prime Minister Hassan Khaire held talks with senior U.S officials among them National Security Advisor John Bolton in Washington.

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