Washington’s calling it another step in the resumption of diplomatic relations with Mogadishu

The U.S. embassy was closed during the civil war in Somalia.

The building  will re-open on the grounds of the international airport in Mogadishu.

There has been a U.S. diplomatic mission in the capital.

Ambassador Donald Yamamoto says the embassy’s historic re-opening will enhance cooperation, advance U.S. national strategic interests, and support it overall security, political, and economic development goals and objectives.

The U.S. Agency for International Development announced nearly $257 million in new humanitarian assistance to Somalia. The new humanitarian package brings U.S. total assistance to Somalia to just under a half-billion dollars this year.

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The exercise is being seen as milestone of corruption.

A traffic ban’s been imposed and major roads have been sealed off in the capital Mogadishu.

Politicians have been peeling off wads of hundred dollar bills to buy votes in the country ranked by Transparency International as the most corrupt on the planet.

Candidates have shown up for parliamentary races standing next to a political nobody who was bribed or coerced into running against them, to make the race look fair.

In one case, the mysterious candidate was the politician’s maid.

Somalia’s been without a functioning central government for more than 25 years and has been propped up by billions of dollars of American aid.

United Nations officials have billed today’s presidential election as a milestone.

But several analysts, investigators and some Western diplomats say the election has turned out to be a milestone of corruption.

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