US diplomatic influence in Somalia waning- former diplomat

By T. Roble

The US is losing its diplomatic influence in Somalia as it ups military interventions at the expense of diplomacy, a former senior diplomat at the US Mission in Somalia has said accusing the Trump administration of belittling the role of the State Department over Pentagon.

In a hard hitting resignation letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Elizabeth Shackelford said the State Department was running on a very lean staff base over failure by the Trump administration to fill vacant positions adding as a result the US was fast taking the rear seat in its influence in Somalia.

“The cost of this is visible every day in Mission Somalia, my current post, where State’s diplomatic influence, on the country and within our own interagency, is waning.”

Elizabeth Shackelford, described as an astute diplomat also said she quit over what she termed as the Trump administration’s disdain for human rights.

“Over the past 10 months, our government has failed to demonstrate a commitment to promoting and defending human rights and democracy,” Shackelford said in her resignation letter.

In particular, she took issue with President Trump’s attitude towards human rights warning that even in balancing competing interests, human rights must be upheld as fundamental elements of a safer world.

“President Trump’s dismissive attitude toward human rights was no surprise following his campaign, but your May 3 remarks to Department staff shocked many as you called into question the utility of advancing human rights when it proves inconvenient.”

SECOND DIPLOMAT TO LEAVE

Shackelford, a fluent Somali speaker becomes the second high ranking official in the US Mission in Somalia to leave after the first ambassador since the US resumed relations with Somalia in 2013 Stephen Schwartz left under unclear circumstances in October. Schwartz is yet to be replaced.

The diplomat who was a political officer based in Nairobi also lamented about the fading role of the State Department as the Trump administration put a premium on military interventions.

“The Department’s position within the interagency has also diminished, as we have ceded to the Pentagon our authority to drive US foreign policy, at the behest of the White House but to our detriment as a nation,” said Shackelford, adding, “In these challenging global times we should be seeking to conduct more diplomacy with more resources, not less with less.”

WAR ZONE

The US has ramped up military operations in the US deploying over 500 military personnel in the country while giving more latitude to the Pentagon to make decisions on offensives against Al-Shabaab and ISIS. Trump also declared in March parts of Somalia a war zone.

The US African Command (Africom) in a statement this past week said its operations on Somalia are based on requests from the Somali government.

“The key concept to understand is that everything we do in Somalia is at the request of the Federal Government of Somalia and part of our military support to public diplomacy efforts of the State Department,” said Africom Commander, U.S. Marine Gen. Thomas D. Waldhauser.

Shackelford who confirmed her resignation on Twitter called on Tillerson to throw in the towel as well should he ‘fail to stem the bleeding in the State Department’.“If you are unable to do so effectively within this Administration, I would humbly recommend you follow me out the door.”