Biden can’t fix Somalia – UM

2092
The president-elect was projected to have surpassed the 270 electoral vote threshold after the Associated Press called the state of Pennsylvania in his favour [Angela Weiss/ AFP]

Mogadishu (UM) – So, finally, after 5 days President-elect Jeo Biden beat President Donald Trump with the narrowest of margins in the U.S. elections. Mr. Biden has defeated a very difficult Trump who is America’s most divisive President. Somalia is happy to see the end of Trump because he was a bully and racist who scapegoated Somalia and Somalis for his own political ambitions. Nobody can forget how he refused to allow Somalis to travel to the USA and his threat to pull out U.S. troops from Somalia. U.S. troops in Somalia are in Somalia for the benefit of both Somalis and Americans but Trump did not understand and did not care. Somalis should celebrate the end of Trump era which hurt their nation like so many others.

Mr. Trump was terrible but will Biden be better? Biden has a divided nation to heal and this will take a long time. He is also the oldest president to hold office and his domestic and foreign policy priorities will be narrower because of the financial setback Coronavirus has caused his country. President Biden may stop the demonization of Somalia and Somalis, but he cannot do much else for them. Somalia is also starting an election which is already divisive and bitter. Nobody can predict what will happen and by the time there’s a new Somali government, the USA may have different priorities all together.

President Farmajo is right to congratulate President-elect Biden on his victory through Twitter because the US is supporting Somalia in some important ways. However, it is not President-elect Biden but President Farmajo or his successor after the 2021 elections if he loses that will be able to change Somalia. By the time Biden is sworn in January 2021, Farmajo will be preparing for his own election. As he well knows as a former U.S. citizen, America only deals with winners. Somalia-US relations need to get better and Biden is much easier to engage and work with than Trump on the big global issues which affect both countries like terrorism, trade and finance. But America is not the old America because the world is changing and power is shifting. Well done President Biden but the Somalia government and people must know by now, they are the only ones who can change their future.