The American Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, is to meet Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, the president of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government  (TFG), during her visit to East Africa next week, according to the U.S. State Department.

Asked about the visit at the department's daily briefing in Washington  on Tuesday, spokesman Ian Kelly said Clinton intended to "underscore our  firm support for the TFG, the African Union Mission in Somalia, AMISOM,  and international efforts to stabilize Somalia."

A senior departmental official revealed in June that the U.S. had shipped about 40 tons of small arms and munitions over the previous two months to help the TFG fight off a challenge from Islamist militia.

A transcript of Tuesday's briefing published by the State Department quoted Kelly as saying the U.S. "remain[s] committed to isolating the extremists..." and the Clinton "will also underscore our ongoing U.S. commitment to the humanitarian crisis in Somalia."

The top U.S. official on Africa, Assistant Secretary Johnnie Carson, told AllAfrica in a recent interview that the U.S. administration's backing for the transitional government  was in line with regional East African and continent-wide African Union efforts which had produced and sustained the government.