SOMALIA: Yemen opens Embassy in Somali capital Mogadishu

Yemen opens Embassy in Somali capital, in recognition of the government. Yemen became the first country to open an embassy in the rubble strewn Somali capital Mogadishu on Tuesday (January 23). The heavily protected embassy was opened on Tuesday by the new ambassador to the horn of Africa nation. At the opening ceremony attended by senior Somali government officials, ambassador Mohamed Omar cited traditional ties between the two countries. "We are here to fulfill our commitment, and relations between Yemen and Somalia and the Yemeni community in Somalia is one of the largest communities we have in the world living outside our country." said the Ambassador after raising his flag at the embassy compound. Security outside the compound was enforced by Somali military and police including pick ups mounted with machine guns. Somalia's Interior Minister Hussein Mohamed Farah Aideed said on Friday that the Ethiopian forces guarding his fledgling government would be replaced in the coming few days by African Union (AU) peacekeepers from Malawi, Uganda and Nigeria. Troops from Malawi, Uganda and Nigeria are going to arrive within a week. South Africa, Libya, Tanzania, Angola and Congo had also agreed to send soldiers, he added, but he did not say when. Ethiopia says it wants to pull out its troops after helping government forces oust the Islamists in a two-week war. Addis Ababa viewed the religious movement as a regional threat. The AU has approved a nearly 8,000-strong force, but experts doubt its capacity to muster it quickly, let alone tame a nation mired in anarchy since the 1991 overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. Washington launched an air strike two weeks ago against what it called al Qaeda operatives among the fleeing Islamist ranks in its first publicly confirmed military strike there since ending a disastrous peacekeeping mission in 1994. The Islamists and some foreign supporters have vowed to wage guerrilla war against Ethiopian troops in the country, and many Somalis suspect their militants have been behind a spate of attacks in Mogadishu, the latest of which took place on Monday.

ITN Source | January 24, 2007

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