He credited U.S. intervention in the early 1990s with having saved more than 300,000 Somali lives. "Had that intervention not been there, it would have been difficult and different today -- the situation in Somalia," he said.

Clinton said Somalia's emergence as a democracy has changed its relationship with the United States: "We have moved into a normal sovereign-nation-to-sovereign-nation position and we have moved into an era where we are going to be a good partner, a steadfast partner, to Somalia as Somalia makes the decisions for its own future."