U.S. maintains existing sanctions against Somalia

U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday extended for one year the existing sanctions against Somalia, including a ban on imports of charcoal from the Horn of Africa country as they benefit the extremist al-Shabaab group.

In a notice, the president said the situation in Somalia continues to pose an "unusual and extraordinary" threat to U.S. national security and foreign policy.

He announced the continuation for one year of the national emergency he declared in April 2010 to address the threat.

To deal with the emergency, Obama first ordered sanctions against some Somali individuals and entities in April 2010, and then in July 2012 slapped an import ban on charcoal from Somalia and expanded sanctions against those engaged in acts threatening the peace, security or stability in Somalia, blocking the delivery of humanitarian aid or targeting civilians.

Washington said the trade in charcoal generates "significant revenue" for al-Shabaab, an al-Qaida-affiliated group the Obama administration is fighting along with the African Union troops.

The Obama administration recognized the Somali government in January 2013, which was formed in August 2012 as the first permanent central government in the country since the start of a civil war in 1991, and nominated its ambassador in February 2015, the first in over two decades.

"Although these developments demonstrate progress with respect to Somalia's stabilization, they do not remove the importance of U. S. sanctions, especially against persons undermining the stability of Somalia," Obama said in a letter to top congressional leaders over the extended sanctions. Endite