First senior U.S. official in 19 years visits Mogadishu
Source: CNN
For the first time in nearly 20 years, a senior U.S. official visited the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Sunday, a sign of improving security in a country long considered a failed state.
Johnnie Carson, assistant secretary for African affairs, met with Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, president of Somalia's transitional government, along with several high-ranking government and diplomatic officials.
"I think that we probably are in the best position that we have been in more than two decades, and my very presence in Mogadishu was an acknowledgment of the progress made," Carson told CNN Sunday in an interview in Nairobi after leaving Somalia.
A year ago, the visit would have been unthinkable. But in August, African Union troops pushed Al-Shabaab, an Islamic militant group affiliated with al Qaeda, out of central Mogadishu after years of bitter urban fighting.
Read more: http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/10/first-senior-u-s-official-in-19-years-visits-mogadishu/?hpt=hp_t2
Mog round-up:
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and
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