Hiiraan Online
Friday, July 31, 2015
ROME (HOL) ---Having spent ten years in a legal battle with an Italian firm to reclaim its Rome embassy property rights, Somalia has scored a ground-breaking legal victory Friday after a court in Italy ruled the transfer of the building back to the Somali government.
Gen. Muse Hassan, Somalia’s ambassador to Italy described the verdict as ‘celebratory’ moment of which the Somali nation achieved an ambitious long-standing goal.
The development will likely serve as a major political boost for the current Somali government which is trying to win a second term in the upcoming 2016 elections.
Ambassador Hassan said that the government would refurbish the derelict building which would host the embassy and consulate that would largely undertake Somalia’s Europe diplomatic missions.
Somalia which is recovering from decades of war has been trying to make a diplomatic come back across the world for the past two years and restored normal diplomatic relations with numerous countries.
Many countries including the US severed diplomatic relations with Somalia after a civil war broke out in 1991 that saw warlords fighting for the control of the country.
The new diplomatic exercise comes following the ouster of Islamist insurgents from the capital and surrounding regions, a development which allowed partner countries to start a diplomatic presence in the seaside capital, Mogadishu.