Salaad cancels an Arab tour

Somali diplomatic sources said that technical reasons were behind a canceleed tour which was due to be held by the Somali President Abdul Qasem Salaad Hassan to several Arab capitals to start with Cairo this week with Cairo.

The same sources attributed the reasons for the inability to find a private plane to take President Salaad Hassan in his tour which was presumed to cover Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Sudan, Qatar and Syria. The sources added that the Somali President informed his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak his apology for his being unable to arrive in Cairo at the due time for emergency reasons.

However, a source close to President Salaad said that " The instability in the security conditions and the presence of fears concerning the nature of recent alliances Ethiopia held with several Somali warlords, who reject to recognize Salaad's legitimacy as a President pushed the Somali President to give up his Arab tour."