Ministers meet ahead of regional summit on Sudan, Somalia

KHARTOUM, Dec 26 (AFP) — The foreign ministers of Ethiopia, Sudan and Yemen met Sunday ahead of a three-way summit, which the Somali president will also attend, to discuss issues in the troubled region.

Sudan’s official SUNA news agency said the ministers would submit recommendations for Monday’s summit of the so-called Sanaa Group, which includes Sudan, Ethiopia and Yemen.

Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed arrived in Khartoum on Saturday to take part in the summit as an observer, the agency said.

Among other issues, he will discuss the situation in Somalia and peace efforts in war-torn Sudan with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Sudanese Presient Omar al-Beshir and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

Unconfirmed press reports also said Saleh would put forward an initiative for the future accession to the Sanaa Group of Djibouti and Eritrea, which still has frosty relations with Ethiopia and Sudan.