The Embassy of the United States of America to Somalia was a diplomatic mission of the United States in Mogadishu, Somalia from 1960 to 1991. In 1957, the US opened a Consulate-General in Mogadishu—the capital of the Trust Territory of Somalia, a UN trusteeship under Italian administration. The consulate was upgraded to embassy status in July 1960, when the US recognized Somalia's independence and appointed an ambassador. The embassy served to counter Soviet influence during the Cold War and also served as a base for the United States Agency for International Development, which had a large presence in the country. In 1989, the embassy moved from a dilapidated building in central Mogadishu to a new compound on the outskirts of the city.Violence quickly enveloped the city in late December 1990, during the Somali Civil War, and on 1 January 1991, the ambassador contacted the State Department to request the closure and evacuation of the embassy. Approval was given the following day, but violence and the collapse of the central government prevented the US, and several other countries, from airlifting their diplomats and civilians through Mogadishu International Airport. The USS Guam and USS Trenton, which were stationed off the coast of Oman, were dispatched to airlift staff from the embassy; American civilians and many foreign diplomats also gathered at the embassy, seeking evacuation. The embassy closed on January 5, 1991 and 281 American and foreign diplomats and civilians were airlifted by helicopter from the embassy compound to Guam and Trenton.