Asian Lite News Archive

Kerry arrives in Somalia amid tight security

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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during his visit to the site of 1998 U.S. embassy bombing in Nairobi, Kenya, May 4, 2015. Visiting Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington will work together with the Kenyan government to ensure terrorism remains a thing of the past, and pledged its support to Kenya to curb terror threats.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during his visit to the site of 1998 U.S. embassy bombing in Nairobi, Kenya, May 4, 2015. Visiting Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington will work together with the Kenyan government to ensure terrorism remains a thing of the past, and pledged its support to Kenya to curb terror threats.

US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia,  marking the first visit of a US secretary of state to the country in over 20 years.

Security in Mogadishu has been tightened with roads leading to the airport sealed off, Xinhuia news agency reported.

Kerry is scheduled to officially open the US embassy office in Mogadishu which is located in the heavily fortified UN and Africa Union Mission on Somalia (AMISOM) compound within the airport.

Kerry’s coming to Mogadishu is considered as an indication of improved security and political situation in the country and he will be expected to discuss terrorism which had bedevilled the Horn of Africa country.

This will be the most high profile visit by an American senior official to Somalia since US forces pulled out of Somalia in 1993 following the aborted Black Hawk Operation.

Somali leaders had last week expressed discontent over what they said was failure by donor countries including the US to honour their pledges with particular reference to the promises made during the Brussels Conference in 2013.

Against this backdrop, Kerry is expected to offer further support to Somalia as he did in Kenya on Monday where he pledged $100 million to fight the militant group Al Shabaab.