War- torn Somalia is turning around: Kerry
Mogadishu, May 5: US secretary of state John Kerry said on Tuesday that war- torn Somalia was facing a better future, as he made a landmark visit as the most senior US official to visit since Washington’s doomed military intervention more than two decades ago.
Mr Kerry spent just a few hours in the capital, Mogadishu, and did not venture out of the heavily- fortified airport, where he met Somalia’s internationally- backed President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmake. “More than 20 years ago, the United States was forced to pull back from your country,” Mr Kerry said, referring to the infamous “Black Hawk Down” battle of 1993, when 18 American soldiers and hundreds of Somalis were killed during a military and humanitarian intervention that went wrong.
“I visited Somalia today because your country is turning around,” Mr Kerry said. “Now we are returning in collaboration with the internation- al community and bearing high hopes — but also mixed with ongoing concerns.”
Mr Kerry’s visit was aimed at giving a diplomatic push to Somalia’s fragile government in their fight against Al Shebab, who despite losing territory have continued to attack across the country. “The next time I come, we have to be able to just walk downtown,” Mr Kerry said as he met President Mohamud, whose presidential compound has been a regular target of attackers.