by James Tweedie

US SECRETARY of State John Kerry made an unannounced visit to Somalia yesterday in an attempt to bolster the embattled Western-backed government.

Mr Kerry, who is the first senior US diplomat to visit the east African country, was greeted at Mogadishu airport by Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Prime Minister Ridwan Hirsi Mohamed.

The trip was organised under conditions of top secrecy and tight security, with the Somalian government only being notified on Monday that Mr Kerry would accompany Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Greenfield-Thomas on her scheduled diplomatic mission.

Mr Kerry held meetings with the two leaders and civil society groups, but he did not venture beyond the airport for fear of a repeat of the 1992 Black Hawk Down debacle at the hands of al-Shabab guerillas.

“This is a very important moment for Somalia,” Mr Kerry told reporters.

“Great progress has been made and you have all contributed to that progress … most importantly, obviously, the need to provide your citizens with the safety and security that they want and need.”

He added: “We very much look forward to working with you towards building credible elections, towards the building of a national army and towards the ability of Somalia to serve as a model for its ability to rebuild and reclaim its own future.”

And he joked with Mr Mohamud: “The next time I come, we have to be able to just walk downtown.” The president replied that central Mogadishu was “very different now.”

While the US backs the incumbent government of Somalia, it does not maintain an embassy in the capital.

Al-Shabab has been fighting the government since the US-backed overthrow of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) in December 2006 by the Transitional Federal Government (TFG).

Al-Shabab is a split from the ICU, which eventually joined the TFG in 2009. Its campaign to gain power in Somalia has been opposed by an African Union military peacekeeping force and US drone attacks.

Hundreds of thousands of of Somali refugees from the war languish in refugee camps in neighbouring Kenya.