MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — The highest ranking U.S. official to visit Somalia’s capital in years has landed in Mogadishu.
Johnnie Carson, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, arrived in Somalia’s capital Sunday. Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda, the spokesman for the African Union military force in Somalia, confirmed Carson’s arrival.
The visit is further proof of the improving security situation in Mogadishu. African Union troops pushed al-Shabab fighters out of the capital in August.
The U.S. does not have an embassy in Somalia, though embassy official from neighboring Kenya have visited Somalia in recent months and years. The last senior U.S. government official to visit Mogadishu appears to have been a visit by Gen. Anthony Zinni in 1997.
Can anyone tell ap that the essense of this story which earned it apnewsbreak (what does that mean)is false. The us official talked his visit to mogadishu in a press conference sunday, so what is the point of reporting it a whole day after. Also, Can’t the ap read its own stories about somalia. The use of word “appears” in this story will not be able to hide the false info it contains. It is false to say the last us official visited somalia in 1997. Correction is needed, period!