Ethiopian envoy arrives in Somalia to mediate govt talks

Aug 5, 2006 (MOGADISHU) — Ethiopia’s foreign minister arrived in southern Somalia Saturday to mediate between the leaders of Somalia’s weak, U.N.-backed transitional government, said the government spokesman. The differences have seen almost 40 Cabinet and junior ministers resign in the past nine days.

Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin is the first Ethiopian official to visit Somalia in many years. Ethiopia and Somalia view each other as enemies, have fought a war in 1977 to 1978, but Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf is a longtime ally of Ethiopia.

Seyoum met with Yusuf early Saturday in Baidoa, 150 miles northwest of the capital, Mogadishu, said Abdirahman Dinari, the government spokesman.

The Ethiopian foreign minister is scheduled to have a working dinner later Saturday with Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, Dinari said.

"His trip to Baidoa is aimed at solving the differences between the government top leaders," Dinari said.

Seyoum will then travel to neighboring Kenya for talks with officials, Dinari said.

The ministers leaving Gedi’s government have all cited his lukewarm support for Arab League-sponsored talks with Islamic militants, which were due to have resumed in Khartoum, Sudan, on Tuesday.

Gedi said that the talks had been postponed until Aug. 17, but Yusuf said the government was sending a team to Sudan on Wednesday. That delegation, however, has yet to leave Somalia.

Baidoa is the only southern Somalia town the government controls, following Islamic militiamen taking over most of southern Somalia since June, when they routed warlords out of the capital.

(AP/ST)