Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, will make a rare visit to Africa this week [Reuters]

Later this week Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, will make a rare visit to Africa to deal with several volatile conflicts that threaten to further destabilise the sub-Saharan region.

It is a region plagued by wars, abject poverty, disease, and numerous refugee crises.

In Somalia, tens of thousands of refugees have fled the capital since the latest outbreak of fighting there. The country has collapsed to the point that the UN considers it too dangerous even to send in what is essentially a survey team for more peace-keeping forces. In the Horn of Africa, Eritrea and Ethiopia have massed troops on both sides of their disputed border.

About 70,000 people died when these two countries went to war about 10 years ago, and the international commission that was trying to resolve the conflict dissolved itself last week.

Meanwhile, Washington is having a hard time convincing any African country to host the newly-created African Command, which remains in Germany for now.