Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, the Somalia president has renounced US citizenship. The office of the president made this official announcement on Thursday 1st August without disclosing the reason for his action. “This {his renouncement} follows the completion of the required legal and immigration processes that had been initiated after the president’s election,” his office said in an emailed statement.
Mohamed, known widely by his nickname Farmajo, had long begun the process to give up his second citizenship. He swung into action shortly after winning the 2017 presidential election that brought him to power despite the constitutional allowance of dual nationality in Somalia.
Mohamed who had lived in the United States for several years served as a diplomat in Washington in the late 1980s. He also served in various administrative roles. His most recent work in the US was as a New York state transportation department official in Buffalo. He returned to Somalia, became the prime minister in 2010, and served for eight months. He was later elected as president in 2017. He is expected to run for a second term in 2021.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that Somali officials who have dual citizenship have been accused of lacking loyalty to Somalia. So, it has been rumored that the president renounced US citizen in order to win Somalians trust and support for his aspired second term. In a tweet on Thursday, Mohamed assured Somalians of his honest and loyal service to them. “I am proud to serve my people and always believe in their potential to rebuild this nation. I am neither discouraged by our past nor daunted by the enormity of the task ahead. I will continue serving my people honestly with the firm belief that real power rests with the people,” Mohamed tweeted.
The timing of the renunciation brings a twist to the event. It came about two weeks after President Donald Trump attacked four minority freshmen congresswomen including Somali-born Ilhan Omar, whom he asked to return to the Horn of Africa nation.
Trump’s fight with the four first-year liberal Democrats — Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib – is been seen as part of his campaign to portray the Democratic Party as beholden to its left-most flank, lawmakers whose ideology the president calls “socialist.” Could this also be a reason why the president renounced US citizenship?
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