In a surprise stop in Mogadishu, Somalia, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said she was "deeply alarmed" by the humanitarian crisis including the threat of famine which she attributed to the "ultimate failure of the international community." Thomas-Greenfield, who is among several high-level U.S. officials to have visited the African continent recently, pledged $2.4 billion to the Horn of Africa region. Kwaku Nuamah, professor of International Politics at American University in Washington, tells VOA's Vincent Makori that the attention on Africa is indicative of the continent's growing importance to the West.