On a seven-nation tour, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will promise more U.S. assistance to Somalia which is currently fighting against Islamist extremists. The U.S. assistance also includes military aid.
U.S. officials said the Obama administration is said to double its initial provision of 40 tons of firearms. Officials also said the U.S. has also already started a mission that aims at helping train security forces of Somalia in the neighbouring Djibouti.
On Clinton’s visit on Thursday, she will be meeting Somalia’s president Sheik Sharif Ahmed in Kenya to reassure the U.S. support on Ahmed’s Transitional Federal Government.
But the specific condition Clinton will be promising to Somalia at the meeting is not yet clear. Last week, Johnnie Carson, a top diplomat to Africa, said, “we are prepared to provide additional assistance to the (Somali) government.”
Carson further said the U.S. is still going to provide support to an African Union peacekeeping force that is run by soldiers from Burundi and Uganda. Carson did not elaborate on specific assistance yet.
But U.S. officials confirmed the U.S. will pay for another batch of 40 tons of weaponry from stockpiles of African militaries.
One official also said the Pentagon is going to provide supplies and facilities for training such as tents. However, the U.S. military is not going to participate in giving trainings to Somalia forces. Military trainings will be given by Djibouti instead.
The European Union also confirmed last week its support to Somalia by sending military advisers to Djibouti to help train Somalia forces in counter terrorism and anti-piracy tactics.
Violence in Somalia increased in recent years, tossing the country into the top list of most violent nations in the world in the past two years. Based on the National counterterrorism Center records, deaths due to terrorism rose to 2,000 in 2008 from 767 in 2007.
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