Ethiopian FM in Somalia to discuss political crisis

October 31, 2007 (MOGADISHU) — Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed held talks Wednesday with Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin, two days after the resignation of the war-torn country’s premier.

“They are talking about the current security situation in the country, including Ethiopian army efforts to end insecurity in Mogadishu,” said an official in Yusuf’s office.

The pair met in the southcentral town of Baidoa two days after Ali Mohamed Gedi resigned as the country’s prime minister and amid a deteriorating security situation in the capital Mogadishu.

“The minister asked the president to ensure that problems are peacefully resolved through dialogue,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Yusuf is holding talks with clan and political leaders to appoint a new prime minister to replace Gedi, who was accused by critics of failing to quell a months-old insurgency and rebuild Somalia’s institutions.

Ethiopian troops came to the rescue of Somalia’s embattled transitional government last year and ousted an Islamist that briefly controlled large parts of the country.

But Islamist fighters — accused by Washington of links to Al-Qaeda — and tribal allies have since waged a guerrilla-style war in Mogadishu, targeting Somali and Ethiopian troops.

The violence has crippled Somalia’s ailing economy, left hundreds of civilians dead and forced tens of thousands to flee Mogadishu, prompting growing calls for Ethiopia to leave the country.

Somalia has been engulfed in civil conflict since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and has defied at least a dozen peace initiatives.

(AFP)