From Reuters

The nominee to be U.S. ambassador to Somalia has withdrawn, slowing down the appointment of the first envoy since the United States pulled out a military mission in the early 1990s as the country plunged into civil war and chaos.

The withdrawal of the military mission, which had been supporting an aid effort, was prompted by the “Black Hawk Down” incident in which 18 U.S. soldiers were killed when their helicopters were shot down by Somali militias in Mogadishu.

A White House official said that Katherine Dhanani, who had been named in February, withdrew for personal reasons, without giving more details.

Washington had touted the nomination of the career diplomat Dhanani as signaling the deepening relationship between the two countries. John Kerry visited Mogadishu this month, the first U.S. secretary of state to set foot in Somalia.

A second U.S. administration official said the White House hoped to fill the post as soon as possible but did not have a timeline for when a new person would be nominated for Somalia, which is slowly emerging from two decades of war and is still battling an Islamist insurgency.

Read more at Reuters