GAROWE, Somalia June 16 (Garowe Online) - The president of Somalia’s Puntland State government is flying from the Gulf of Aden port city of Bossaso on Tuesday on a trip to the United States, Radio Garowe reports.

Dr. Abdirahman Mohamed “Farole,” the Puntland president who won an election in January, is leading a government delegation to Washington, D.C., where he is expected to address a U.S. Congress session on Somali issues.

President Farole’s delegation includes Interior Minister Gen. Abdullahi Ahmed “Ilkajir,” Planning and International Cooperation Minister Farah Aden Dhala, and the State Minister for Democratization Process, Dr. Abdi Hassan Jim’ale.

Puntland government sources told Radio Garowe that President Farole will address the U.S. House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health on a range of issues covering Somalia, including the political and humanitarian situation and the surge of piracy off the Horn of Africa country's coast.

It is the first trip by a Puntland leader to Washington, D.C., since the regional government was established in 1998.

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Source: Garowe Online