• + Comment now
• Print
• Email
• Tweet
• Reset

Assistant US Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson met with Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and several senior Somali officials in an unannounced visit to Mogadishu on Sunday (June 10th).

The visit marks the first time such a high-level US official has visited Mogadishu in nearly 20 years, according to officials.

"I think that we are probably 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 on Sunday from Nairobi, where he travelled afterwards.

"Things are moving in a very positive direction," he said.

Carson said al-Shabaab remains a threat to Somalia and the rest of the world.

"Over the last year, al-Shabaab has become formally affiliated with al-Qaeda, and senior leaders of al-Shabaab have befriended individuals who are linked with al-Qaeda," he said. "They have befriended foreign fighters who have come in from the Middle East and South Asia. And their presence is a source of concern in Somalia as well as in the region and also for the global community."

The US government recently offered millions of dollars for information on seven key al-Shabaab members through its Rewards for Justice programme.