President Obama holds talks with Ethiopian PM

US President Barack Obama met the Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on Monday on the first visit by a serving US president to the nation.

The talks between President Obama and Prime Minister Desalegn are expected focus on security and the threat of the Islamist militant group al Shabaab in Somalia.

Obama, who arrived from Kenya on Sunday, also wants to boost business ties with Africa.

Ethiopia’s ruling party, in power for quarter of a century, has turned the once famine-stricken economy around, but opponents say it has been at the expense of political freedoms. The opposition failed to secure a single seat in a May parliamentary election.

On Obama’s first stop in Kenya, his father’s homeland, he urged Kenyans to deepen democracy, tackle corruption and end politics of exclusion based on gender or ethnicity. He also promised Kenya more security assistance.

“We are strongly committed to partnering with African countries to increase their capacity to address the immediate threats posed by terrorist organisations,” the White House said in a statement on Monday.

Ethiopia contributes troops to an African Union peace keeping force battling al Shabaab in Somalia. The group has often launched attacks in Kenya, but diplomats say Ethiopia’s state security apparatus has spared it similar assaults.