Hiiraan Online
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
BAGHDAD (HOL) – Iraqi’s president Fuad Masum has received diplomatic credentials from the new Somali ambassador to Iraq on Monday, in a major step in re-establishing diplomatic ties between the two countries that enjoyed warm diplomatic relations before a civil war broke out in the horn of Africa nation in 1991.
Somalia’s is currently struggling to make a diplomatic come back across the world after more than two decades of war which shattered the country’s diplomatic and economic relations with other countries.
At a ceremony in Baghdad, Mr. Masum has assured the new Somali ambassador Abdullahi Sheikh Mohamed that his country would further enhance bilateral relations between the two countries and wished the new ambassador success in his new post.
Mr. Abdullahi Sheikh Mohamed succeeds Ms. Khadija Al-Makhsumi, the former Somali ambassador to Iraq who was replaced by Somalia’s foreign ministry last month.
Somalia has reopened its Baghdad embassy in October last year, re-establishing its diplomatic presence in the Middle Eastern nation. In recent years, Somalia had restored normal diplomatic relations with numerous countries.
Many countries including the US severed diplomatic relations with Somalia after a civil war broke out in 1991 that saw warlords fighting for the control of the country.
Somali Ambassador to Iraq Abdullahi Sheikh Mohamed
The new diplomatic exercise comes following the ouster of Islamist insurgents from the capital and surrounding regions, a development which allowed partner countries to start a diplomatic presence in the seaside capital, Mogadishu.