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Europe

Boris Johnson's girlfriend Carrie Symonds barred from US due to Somaliland trip

21 August 2019 14:48 (UTC +04:00)

Carrie Symonds, the girlfriend of Britain’s new leader, Boris Johnson, has been blocked from entering the United States, APA reports citing Sputnik.

Symonds, a former Conservative Party communications director, is currently working as a senior adviser at Oceana, a US-based nonprofit ocean conservation campaign group.

She is thought to have applied for a visa to work in the United States as part of her job at Oceana, but the immigration authorities have rejected her application.

It is understood that the decision was due to her five-day trip to east Africa last year. The trip saw Symonds, together with Somali-born social activist Numco Ali, visit Somaliland – the northern territory that unilaterally declared independence from Somalia in 1991, following the outbreak of the civil war, but is not recognised internationally.

During the visit, Symonds and Ali met with Somaliland leader Muse Bihi Abdi to discuss women's issues and sea pollution.