WASHINGTON, February 20, 2009 – US President Barack Obama must urgently seize the opportunity to help Somalia's new leaders unite their strife-torn country under the rule of law, a senator said in a letter released Thursday.

"The need to develop and implement a new approach is urgent," Democratic Senator Russ Feingold told Obama in a letter dated February 13, urging the new US president to break with predecessor George W. Bush's approach.

Feingold urged Obama to forge a comprehensive new approach grouping US diplomatic efforts but also military and intelligence means "into one coherent strategy."

"The previous administration maintained a disjointed and short-sighted approach toward Somalia that was counterproductive and led to increased anti-Americanism in the region," the Wisconsin lawmaker charged.

"As a result, the situation in Somalia has deteriorated, undermining our national security goals, including counterterrorism," the senator, who visited Somalia in December and met with President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

The moderate Islamist won office January 31 under a United Nations-brokered peace deal between the Somali transitional government and a moderate Islamist opposition that also calls for forming joint security units.

Somalia has had no effective central authority since the 1991 ouster of former president Mohamed Siad Barre touched off a bloody cycle of clashes between rival factions.

Feingold, an outspoken Bush critic, urged Obama "to consider making a public, unequivocal statement that you intend to make a clear break from past policies toward Somalia."

"I believe doing so could make a tremendous impression on ordinary Somalis and greatly advance US public diplomacy efforts in the Horn of Africa and across the Muslim world," he said.

SOURCE: AFP, Friday, February 20, 2009

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