Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire begins a visit to Washington on Monday. Meetings are tentatively scheduled at the World Bank and either at or with senior officials from the State Department, Treasury Department, and the United States’ intelligence community. Khaire, who has just begun his third year as prime minister and who was previously a refugee in Norway, was appointed by President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed (“Farmajo”) who himself was selected by a parliament chosen by hand-picked Somali elders in a process marked by fraud and vote-buying.

Khaire’s visit comes at a crucial time for Somalia. In 1991, after the fall of dictator Siad Barre, Somalia collapsed. Rival clans and warlords fought over the institutions of state, hijacking or looting them in order to benefit their own narrow interests or trade patronage for power. As the Western media broadcast photos of starving Somali children, then-President George H.W. Bush ordered Marines into Somalia to distribute aid and to try to avert famine. The aid, however, simply exacerbated conflict as rival militias fought over its distribution to ensure their followers received support and their competitors starved. After the Black Hawk Down episode, President Bill Clinton, who inherited the mission, ordered U.S. forces home the following year. The rest of the U.N. peacekeeping force left soon after, and Somalia again descended into chaos.