Possible visit by US Defence Secretary

Officials at the US embassy in Asmara have confirmed that a visit by US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld to East Africa and the Horn is being planned by the Defence Department, and that a visit to Eritrea is possible. A spokesman for the US embassy in Asmara said the Defence Department had communicated to embassies in the region the secretary’s intention to travel to East Africa and the Horn later this month. However, he stressed, it was not yet 100 percent certain. “At the moment all we know is that the secretary is indeed thinking of coming to our neck of the woods,” said spokesman Ilya Levin. "However the dates are not certain yet.” According to Levin, Rumsfeld’s potential visit to the region was in the planning stages well before a terrorist attack on an Israeli-owned hotel on the Kenyan coast last week. Levin said that to the best of his knowledge, plans for the possible visit had not been altered in any way by the attack. He could not comment on the purpose, nature or duration of the visit.