By Sue Pleming
Thursday, August 06, 2009
NAIROBI, Aug 6 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets Somalia's president on Thursday, showing U.S. support for a fragile government that is battling militants including al Shabaab insurgents.
Australian police said this week they had uncovered a plot to attack a Sydney army base by men they said had links to al Shabaab, which Washington accuses of being al Qaeda's proxy in the Horn of Africa nation.
Clinton said she would discuss with President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed how the world could help stabilise the Horn of Africa country, which Western security agencies say is a haven for militants plotting attacks in the region and beyond.
"We know we're facing a very difficult conflict, and we also know that the presence of al Shabaab and terrorist elements within Somalia poses a threat," said Clinton, ahead of the meeting, on the sidelines of a U.S.-African trade conference.
"It poses a threat to Kenya, poses a threat to the stability of Africa and beyond. So this is an area where we're going to work even more closely together."
The United States has offered military aid to Somalia's government, including more than 40 tonnes of weapons and ammunition in recent months, as it battles al Shabaab.
At the meeting, in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, Clinton is expected to promise more financial aid, including additional shipments of weapons, although these had been scheduled a while ago, a senior U.S. official travelling with Clinton said.
Washington has also offered training for security forces and logistical help. Before meeting Ahmed, Clinton laid a wreath at the site of the U.S. embassy bombing in Nairobi in 1998.
She also met survivors of the blast that killed 218 people. She said visiting the memorial was an opportunity to renew U.S. resolve to fight against terrorism.
NO U.S. TROOPS
The Obama administration has ruled out sending U.S. forces to help fight against Somali Islamist militants. The last U.S. involvement in Somalia -- during Clinton's husband Bill Clinton's presidency -- ended in shambles.
In a battle that inspired the film "Black Hawk Down", 18 U.S. soldiers were killed in Mogadishu in October 1993, marking the beginning of the eventual withdrawal of a U.S.-U.N. peacekeeping force from Somalia.
There is still debate within the Obama administration over how to handle the crisis and whether putting full U.S. support behind Ahmed is wise.
Ahmed was elected in January under a U.N.-brokered process that was Somalia's 15th attempt to set up a central government since 1991.
"Was it a perfect election? Of course not, but the legitimacy of his election is something we want to support," Clinton told a town hall meeting at the University of Nairobi. "Our goal is to try and help create conditions of stability."
Africa expert Jennifer Cooke of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington thinktank, said while Ahmed's government was seen as imperfect, he was also viewed by many as the only option available.
"I am not sure what she is going to get out of this meeting," said Cooke of Clinton's meeting, which is also expected to tackle a rise in piracy off Somalia's coast.
Somalia's coastal waters -- vital shipping lanes linking Asia and Europe -- have become a focus of pirates who have made off with countless millions of dollars in ransom from hijacking vessels, including U.S.-flagged ships.
Pirates are expected to step up attacks on ships off Somalia's coast in the coming months as the end of the monsoon season brings better weather. (Reporting by Sue Pleming; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Source: Reuters, Aug 06, 2009