Somalia Seeks U.S. Aid to Revive Nation

WASHINGTON -- Somalia is asking the U.S. government for help in building efficient police, military and intelligence organizations as it attempts to overcome years of strife and impoverishment.

The requests were contained in a three-page memo submitted to the State Department by Dahir Mirreh Jibreel, a U.S. representative of the Transition Federal Government in Somalia that took power recently after the ouster of radical Islamists by Ethiopian troops.

The government was established in 2004 with U.N. backing but had been too weak until the turn of the year to establish a presence in Mogadishu, the capital.

Heading the list of Somali requests was the appointment of a U.S. ambassador to Somalia. The United States has not had a functioning embassy in Somalia for years. There was no immediate comment Thursday from the State Department on the request but security issues for any U.S. personnel sent there are believed to be a major concern.

Large-scale assistance seems unlikely until Somali authorities are able to create a stable environment in the country.

The requests also call for congressional approval of Somalia stabilization and reconstruction legislation as well as encouragement of private U.S. investment in Somalia.

The country has not had a government able to control the national territory since 1991. The transitional government lacks funds to pay civil servants and the list submitted to the State Department includes a request to fill that need until the country is able to generate its own revenue.

Shortly after the transitional government was installed in Mogadishu, United States made an initial down payment of $40 million in revitalization assistance for Somalia. About $16 million was earmarked for humanitarian assistance, $14 million to fund a multinational force whose deployment is still pending and $10 million in development aid.

Jibreel distributed copies of the requests during a meeting Thursday with a small group of reporters that was hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative public policy research group.