Jendayi Frazer

MOGADISHU, 3 February 2008 - The top US diplomat for Africa made a surprise visit to Somalia's breakaway region of Somaliland on Sunday and held talks with the president, a spokesman for the unrecognised statelet said.

US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer arrived in the region's capital of Hargeisa at around 10:00 am (0700 GMT) and met President Dahir Rayale Kahin, said presidential spokesman Said Adan.

Frazer told local reporters at the aiport that she was returning a visit by Riyale to Washington in order to work on "bases of democracy ... already established here."

Riyale met with Frazer in January in Washington, but the State Department stressed that the meeting did not imply US recognition of the northwestern coast region, which split from Somalia in 1991.

A former British protectorate, Somaliland united with the Italian Somalia in 1960. But the region unilaterally broke away five months after Somali dictator Siad Barre was ousted in 1991.

The Washington Post reported last month that US officials were debating whether to shift US support from the fragile Somali government to the less volatile region of Somaliland.

State Department officials oppose such a move, putting them at odds with Defense Department officials who say that forging ties with Somaliland could help bring stability to the region, the Post said.

The region of 3.5 million people, which adopted a provisional constitution in 1997 and ratified it four years later, boasts its own president, government, parliament, police force, penal code and currency.

Source: AFP