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Mogadishu - Secretary of State John Kerry made an unannounced trip to Somalia Tuesday in a show of solidarity with a government trying to defeat al-Qaida-allied militants and end decades of war in the African country. He is the first top US 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 instable the country remains.
Deadly terrorist attacks
"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-Shabaab. African forces and US drone strikes have crippled the organisation'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-Shabaab has decentralised, the militants in some ways have become even more dangerous, expanding their activities in Kenya and other neighbouring 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."
Piracy
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-Shabaab 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 US has provided hundreds of millions in military support to build up and professionalise the army, and is working with Mohamud to try to usher in a broader, more representative government over the next 18 months.
Refugees
If that effort is successful and stability expands, officials say the US 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 US 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-Shabaab 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 US 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.
