US nominates Ambassador to Somalia

United States' President Barack Obama has announced his "intent to nominate" Katherine Simonds Dhanani, a career member of the Foreign Service, as the Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Somalia.

If her nomination is confirmed, she will be the first U.S Ambassador since 1991 and it will be a testimony of the deepening relationship between the United States and Somalia. She will work the United States' Diplomatic Mission for Somalia, which is currently based at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. The United States Department of State hopes subject to the security situation in Somalia, to increase its diplomatic presence in Somalia and eventually reopen the U.S. Embassy in Mogadishu.

Dhanani, who is in the class of a Counsellor in the Foreign Service, currently serves as Director of the Office of Regional and Security Affairs in the Bureau of African Affairs in the Department of State, a position she has held since 2013. 

Previously, she served as Consul General at the U.S. Consulate in Hyderabad, India from 2010 to 2013 and was Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe from 2007 to 2010 as well as at the U.S. Embassy in Libreville, Gabon from 2005 to 2007. Additionally, she was the Political and Economic Section Chief at the U.S. Embassy in Lusaka, Zambia from 2002 to 2005 and Economic Section Chief at the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1999 to 2002.  She was an Economic Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, Mexico from 1998 to 1999 as well as in the Office of Mexican Affairs at the Department of State from 1996 to 1998.  Prior to this, she served as Staff Assistant in the Bureau of Inter-American Affairs at the Department of State, as Consular Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo and as Economic Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Georgetown, Guyana.  She was also Assistant Planner for the City of Sacramento in California and a Lecturer at Grinnell College in Iowa.  Ms. Dhanani holds a B.A. from Kenyon College and an M.A. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.