Africa
Somalia: Refugees Who Became U.S. Diplomats
From Somalia to the service of the United States.
Civil war
Somalia's central government collapsed in 1991 and civil war followed. Hundreds of thousands of Somalis fled, many to vast camps in Kenya such as Dadaab and Kakuma.
Somali America
The United States resettled large numbers of Somali refugees from the 1990s onward. Minnesota is now home to one of the largest Somali communities outside Africa, and Somali Americans have entered public service at the local, state, and federal levels.