Addis Ababa, 25 February 2015 (WIC) - President Barack Obama has nominated a career diplomat, Katherine Simonds Dhanani, to be the first U.S. Ambassador to Somalia in nearly 25 years.

Ambassador Dhanani will be based in neighboring Kenya until security conditions permit the embassy in the Somali capital of Mogadishu to reopen.

The State Department said Ambassador Dhanani, currently Director of Regional and Security Affairs in the Africa Bureau, had previously served in India, Mexico, and Guyana and at various times been posted in Zimbabwe, Gabon, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo.

The State Department said the nomination was a sign of the U.S. commitment to Somalia and “signaled the deepening relationship between the United States and Somalia.”

A State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said “It also allows us to mark the progress of the Somali people toward emerging from decades of conflict. Somalia has considerable work ahead to complete its transition to a peaceful, democratic, and prosperous nation.” (MoFA)