29 November 2018•Update: 29 November 2018
By Addis Getachew
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia
A senior U.S. official said Thursday the war against al-Shabaab has not been lost in spite of a series of recent attacks across Somalia, including capital Mogadishu.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Tibor Nagy and African Union Commission Deputy Chairperson Kwesi Quartey headed their respective delegations on the 6th U.S.-AU High-Level Delegation Dialogue.
Responding to a question by Anadolu Agency, Nagy said the U.S. has recently appointed a resident ambassador in Mogadishu after more than two decades and would scale up efforts to eradicate the terrorist threat in Somalia and the region.
He, however, noted that much preoccupation was invested on security concerns in Africa at a cost of little attention for development strategies.
“For too long our predecessors have focused almost entirely on containing security and humanitarian crises to the detriment of establishing well-formed plans for spurring economic progress and solidifying domestic gains,” he said.
He added that promoting economic growth, trade and investment was the future growth of Africa whose population is projected to amount to a quarter of the world’s workforce and consumers by 2030.
“Today we must also plan for a more prosperous continent where young Africans will have jobs that keep them at home and will contribute to the development of a continent that will be the envy of the world,” he said.
