NEW YORK [SMN] – The US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield delivered a speech on Somalia at a UN Security Council Briefing on Wednesday evening after her Mogadishu visit.
She spoke about current issues, mainly security, fight against Al-Shabaab and ongoing conflict in the north of the country which claimed the lives of at least 150 people and over 500 were wounded in three weeks.
”We are still gravely concerned, however, with the violence in Lasanod, particularly the indiscriminate shelling of civilians,” she added during her address at the security council.
Linda called for an immediate de-escalation of violence, the protection of civilians, unimpeded humanitarian access, and for tensions to be resolved peacefully through dialogue.
The US diplomat paid a visit to Somalia to review the humanitarian, stability, and security situations. She met with president Hassan Sheikh and other key stakeholders.
She welcomed the recent commitment by Somalia and its neighbors to expand operations against al-Shabaab further into southern parts of the Horn of Africa nation.
US has a critical role to support the Federal Government of Somalia’s planning and coordination of stabilization efforts in response to operations.
Since 2022, the United States has provided more than $2.5 billion of lifesaving assistance to the Horn of Africa – 1.3 billion of that went directly to Somalia.
