John Kerry in Surprise Somalia Visit
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - John Kerry made a surprise trip to Somalia on Tuesday, becoming the first US secretary of state to visit the war-ravaged Horn of Africa nation.
The top US diplomat was spending just a few hours in the capital, Mogadishu, and was not scheduled to leave the confines of the fortified airport where he met with Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmake.
Officials said Kerry's visit was designed to give a diplomatic push to Somalia's internationally-backed government in their fight against Al-Qaeda's Somalia branch, the Shebab, as well as efforts to build political security in the war-torn country.
"The next time I come, we have to be able to just walk downtown," Kerry said as he met President Mohamud, striking an optimistic tone for the future of the country.
"Downtown Mogadishu is very different now than it was two years ago," the Somali president replied, asserting that security was steadily improving and describing Kerry's flying visit as a "great moment" for Somalia.
A senior State Department official described the visit as "historic".
"I think it will send a strong signal to the Somali people of our commitment," said the official.
"I think it will send a strong signal to Shebab that we are not turning our backs on the Somali people and that we will continue to engage with Somalia until we bring Shebab's terror to an end."
Other senior foreign officials and leaders have visited Mogadishu in recent years, including Britain's former foreign minister William Hague and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, AFP reported.
Kerry thanked Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda which contribute troops to the 22,000 African Union mission in Somalia (AMISOM) that defends the government in Mogadishu and fights Shebab in the regions.
Since 2007 the US has spent "more than half a billion dollars" funding AMISOM, US officials said.
During the same period the US has carried out more than a dozen air and drone strikes against militants, according to the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalists which tracks US covert operations. In September US missiles killed Shebab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane.
