U.S, Feb. 1 -- Jigjiga - A high-profile inauguration attended by leaders from across the Horn of Africa has put a spotlight on an ambitious new project: a 385-hectare resort and tourism complex designed to reposition Ethiopia's Somali Region as a destination for leisure, conferences, and domestic travel-and, eventually, regional and international visitors.

Officials describe the resort as part of the federal government's "Dine for Generation(s)" push to develop headline tourism assets outside Ethiopia's traditional visitor circuit. In statements carried by state-affiliated outlets, the opening was framed as both an economic milestone and an image reset for a region historically defined in international headlines by security concerns and ...