Somali president arrives in Ethiopia for Kerry meet

ADDIS ABABA – Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud arrived in Addis Ababa on Friday for a planned meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, an Ethiopian official has said.

Earlier in the day, a Somali diplomatic source told Anadolu Agency that talks between Mohamud and Kerry would focus on the fight against Somalia’s Al-Shabaab insurgency and the need for a stable government in the troubled Horn of Africa country.

Kerry, who arrived in Addis Ababa on Wednesday as part of a regional tour, is scheduled to deliver a policy speech – devoted to the U.S. commitment to Africa – in Addis Ababa on Saturday.

Somalia has remained in the grip of on-again, off-again violence since the outbreak of civil war in 1991.

The country recently appeared to inch closer to stability with the installation of a new government and the intervention of African Union troops tasked with bringing Al-Shabaab to heel.

Washington has designated the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab a “terrorist” group.

Since 2012, Washington has offered financial rewards in return for information on the whereabouts of Al-Shabaab members.

Anadolu Agency