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| John Kerry |
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry made an
unannounced trip to Somalia Tuesday in a show of solidarity with a
government trying to defeat al-Qaeda-allied militants and end decades of
war in the African country. He is the first top
U.S.diplomat ever to
visit Somalia.
Kerry arrived at Mogadishu's airport shortly before
noon local time, greeted by Somalia's president and prime minister on
the tarmac. He immediately entered a series of planned meetings that
include both of them along with regional leaders and civil society
groups.
"I'm glad to be here," Kerry said.
"This is a great
moment for us. Thank you for the time to be with us," President Hassan
Sheikh Mohamud said as they sat down together.
The trip was made
under tight security conditions. Somalia's government only found out a
day ago that Kerry would join the State Department's top Africa
official, Linda Greenfield-Thomas, on the voyage. And the fact that he
was only dipping his toe in Somalia, and not venturing past the airport,
highlighted just how dangerous and unstable the country remains.
"The
next time I come, we have to be able to just walk downtown," Kerry told
Somalia's president. Mohamud replied, downtown "is very different now."
Top of the agenda is the fight against al-Shabab. African forces and
U.S. drone strikes have crippled the organization's leadership in recent
years and left the extremists without much of the territory they once
controlled or the cash flows needed to reverse their losses.
But
as al-Shabab has decentralized, the militants in some ways have become
even more dangerous, expanding their activities in Kenya and other
neighboring countries. Last month's massacre at Kenya's Garissa
University College killed 148 people, mostly students, and underscored
the group's capacity to carry out relatively unsophisticated but
extremely deadly terrorist attacks far from its bases of operations.
Kerry's
trip is designed "to reinforce the
United States' commitment to
supporting Somalia's ongoing transition to a peaceful democracy,"
spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement.
"He will discuss
security cooperation and Somalia's progress towards meeting its reform
and development benchmarks," she said. "He will also meet with civil
society leaders to discuss the importance of a vibrant NGO sector and
thank African Union troops for their role in stabilizing Somalia."
Somalia
has been without a truly functioning, nationwide government for
two-and-a-half decades. After warlords ousted dictator Siad Barre from
power in 1991, they quickly turned on one another and plunged the
country into anarchy. Militias, Islamist extremist groups and Somalia's
nominally national military all vied for power before the tide turned
against al-Shabab earlier this decade. Piracy also has been a major
problem.
Yet even as a relative calm has settled over parts of the
country, including Mogadishu, Somalia remains fraught with a painful
history for the United States.
American troops were sent there in
1992 on a peacekeeping mission to help stave off a national famine. They
left two years later in humiliation after the "Black Hawk Down" debacle
when Somali militiamen shot down two U.S. helicopters. Eighteen
servicemen were killed in the crash and subsequent rescue attempt, the
indelible memory being the images of American bodies dragged through
Somalia's streets.
The Obama administration is banking on
Mohamud's government to turn a new page toward democracy and economic
development. The U.S. has provided hundreds of millions in military
support to build up and professionalize the army, and is working with
Mohamud to try to usher in a broader, more representative government
over the next 18 months.
If that effort is successful and
stability expands, officials say the U.S. could re-establish an American
embassy in the capital before President Barack Obama leaves office. For
now, the president has nominated a career diplomat, Katherine Dhanani,
to serve as the first U.S. ambassador to the country since 1991, with
the idea that she would operate out of Nairobi and make regular trips
into Somalia.
Britain, Italy and several other countries already have embassies in Mogadishu.
Kerry's
brief foray comes a day after extensive counterterrorism and refugee
talks with Kenya's government, much of it deeply tied to the situation
north of the border. For the Kenyans, stability in Somalia can't come
soon enough. They are scrambling to combat al-Shabab and even have
threatened to begin emptying the sprawling Dadaab refugee camp, the
world's largest with some 350,000 Somali inhabitants.
Kerry said
he received assurances from President Uhuru Kenyatta that no unilateral
action would take place to close Dadaab as the U.S. and others try to
make Somalia safe enough to accommodate large-scale refugee returns.
Their
discussions came as the region's refugee crisis becomes increasingly
complex, with war in nearby Yemen creating conditions so dire that some
people are even fleeing to Somalia.
Aid agencies are undertaking
contingency planning for a prolonged conflict in Yemen that could prompt
100,000 people to escape across the Gulf of Aden to Somalia and 30,000
to Djibouti this year. It's unclear how Somalia, in particular, would be
able to handle such an influx given its persistently high levels of
violence.
