Newly-elected Somali president starts visit to Ethiopia

ADDIS ABABA, Oct 22, 2004 (Xinhua) — The newly elected President of the Somali transitional government Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed arrived in Addis Ababa on Friday on a working visit to his Ethiopian neighbor.

During his visit, he will hold talks with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and other government officials on issues of current affairs in Somali.

Yusuf’s visit is packed with meetings related to security issues. He is expected to hold talks with the Peace and Security Council of the African Union on enhancing peace and security in Somalia.

He will also meet with European Union Foreign and Secretary Policy Czar Javier Solana, who arrived here later Friday evening.

Yusuf was inaugurated on October 14, in Kenya’s capital Nairobi,the venue of the Somali peace talks, and immediately vowed to re-establish stability in the Horn of Africa country, ravaged by factional warfare since 1991.

Yusuf, 71, winner in the run-off round of the poll by lawmakers,had served as president of the northeastern self-declared autonomous region of Puntland since 1998. Somalia has been withoutan effective government since 1991 when the regime of Muhammad Siad Barre was toppled, following which the country was plunged into anarchy and factional violence. Conflict and famine have killed hundreds of thousands of Somalis.

Under the auspices of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, which groups Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda and Somalia, Somali National Reconciliation Conference began in October 2002 in Kenya.